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Southborough, Massachusetts

42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Southborough town. It lies in ZIP code area 01772. It lies near Clear Hill. The Survey maps it on the Marlborough quadrangle.

Southborough within Worcester County

Then and now

1887 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 102 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Southborough, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Southborough, surveyed 1887

On record in Southborough

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 3 records

Topographic sheets covering this place

19 surveys from 42 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the county-history sources

5,304 words on this township

History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889 names this settlement in its chapter on Southborough Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

By order of the General Court, the first townmeeting was held August 28, 1727, at the house of Timothy Brigham, which stood where is now located the St. Mark's School-house. William Johnson was moderator. The first town-meeting, under warrant of selectmen, was held March, 1728 - James Newton, moderator ; Moses Newton, Scth Bellows, Doe Mathea, and Captain Ward were selectmen. The principal business of this meeting, besides the choice of officers, and of several town-meetings which followed, was to arrange for procuring a minister of "good conversation to preach God's word," and to devise ways and means to build a meeting-house. Money for both purposes was promptly raised. The first meetinghouse built was 50x40 feet, aud 20-foot posts ; £300, or $1,000, was appropriated for same. It was built in 1727-28. This house lasted seventy-nine years, at the end of which time it was sold for .$76.99, aud taken down. It was located a few feet south of the house now owned by the Pilgrim Evangelical Society, and on a portion of the land given by the inhabitants of Marlborough to the inhabitants of this section thereof, previous to the incorporation of Southborough(said land was given and set apart for the accommodation of meeting-house, burial-place and for a training-field forever). In 1806, December 17th, the second church edifice was dedicated ; it cost .$7,778.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.

The first minister settled by the town was Rev. Nathan Stone. He was ordained October 21, 1730, and continued their pastor until his death, May 31, 1781. June 1, 1791, Rev. Samuel Sumner was settled. He was dismissed, agreeably to his request, December, 1797. In 1799, October 9th, Rev. Jeroboam Parker, a native of Southborough, was ordained, and became their pastor. He was dismissed at his own request in 1832. The First Parish Society afterwards settled Rev. John D. Sweet, Rev. William Lord, Rev. Alden and Rev. Barnard. The salary first paid to Mr. Stone was £120 or $400, and thirty cords of good wood. In 1734 his salary w;us raised to X150 and thirty cords of good wood.

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.

In 1859, Henry H. Peters, Esq., a wealthy citizen, feeling a deep interest in the education of the youth, and having a desire that the scholars of Southborough should have as good advantages for obtaining an education as was enjoyed by the scholars in the neighboring towns, donated the present school-house, nicely finished and furni.?hed, and the land connected therewith, to the town, on condition that it should be u.sed for a high .school, to be taught by a master (jualified to teach the branches usually taught in a high school, and to be kept at least eight months in each year. The town accepted the very liberal donation at a regular town-meeting ; and as a token of their ai)preciation of his generosity, they directed that it should be called the "Peters High School- House."

Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Southborough Town - it names this place 12 more 12 times.

Fires near this place

125 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 125 fires within 5 miles of Southborough between 2015 and 2020, burning about 106 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 9 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning52
Missing data/not specified/undetermined33
Recreation and ceremony11
Arson/incendiarism9
Smoking6
Misuse of fire by a minor5
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Equipment and vehicle use3
Other causes1
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
8 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
7 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
7 September 2016Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlMARLBORO
29 September 2018Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
28 September 2019Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
19 September 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Worcester County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 693 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 693 specimens collected within 10 miles of Southborough between 1858 and 1975: 278 Fungi, 274 Animalia, 135 Plantae, 3 Protozoa, 2 Unrecorded, 1 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. P. D. Piguet, A. R. Hodgdon; F. L. Steele and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Chrysosplenium americanum Schwein. ex Hook.Chrysosplenium americanum Schwein. ex Hook.1899E. F. Williams
A photograph of the species Quercus velutina, not of this specimenQuercus velutina Lam.1858E. S. HoarRoad to Marlboro, Concord.
A photograph of the species Condylura cristata, not of this specimenCondylura cristata cristata (Linnaeus, 1758)1859E S WheelerBERLIN
A photograph of the species Dryobates pubescens, not of this specimenDryobates pubescens medianus (Swainson, 1832)1861not recordedBolton
A photograph of the species Saemundssonia merguli, not of this specimenSaemundssonia merguli (Denny, 1842)1871W. Hope
A photograph of the species Bromus sterilis, not of this specimenBromus sterilis L.1879C. E. Faxon
A photograph of the species Potamogeton vaseyi, not of this specimenPotamogeton vaseyi J.W.Robbins1880Faxon, C. E.
A photograph of the species Ensis directus, not of this specimenEnsis directus (Conrad, 1844)1881EatonMassachusetts
A photograph of the species Icterus galbula, not of this specimenIcterus galbula (Linnaeus, 1758)1881G. L. BrighamBolton
A photograph of the species Equisetum sylvaticum, not of this specimenEquisetum sylvaticum L.1882W. Deane
Arphia sulphurea (Fabricius, 1781)1892unknownWellesley
A photograph of the species Castilleja coccinea, not of this specimenCastilleja coccinea (L.) Spreng.1892E. C. SmithMarboro.

All 693 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Southborough: 3 past producers, 2 producers, 1 unknown, 1 plant. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Ashland PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPlant
Ashland Sand and Gravel CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
C and M EnterprisesSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Haynes PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Hopkinton PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Hopkinton PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Northboro PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Storms near this place

3 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Southborough in 3 storm reports between 2002 and 2009: 1 lightning, 1 hail, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2009Flash FloodSouthborough$150,000Numerous roads were flooded and subsequently closed across much of southern Worcester County. The worst flooding was experienced in Westborough and Worcester. The Westborough News reported it as the worst flooding Westborough has seen in years. The Westborough fire department took 57 calls due to either flooded basements or motorists stranded in flood waters. Flooding was especially bad in the streets behind Westborough High School, south of the Westborough Reservoir and around the Jackstraw Brook. In Worcester, numerous streets were flooded and washed out. Two people were rescued from flood waters in Southborough. In addition, a couple of propane tanks had to be secured at a house on Parkerville Road because they were floating in the waters. The Southborough Fire Department received 26 calls of basement flooding. Six inches of water inundated the Southborough Public Library's children's section, damaging books.
May 2002LightningSouthborough$10,000no account filed
May 2002HailSouthborough-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Worcester County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Fayville1.3 miles42
Cordaville2.5 miles42
Southville2.8 miles42
Westborough5.5 miles42
Wessonville5.6 miles44
Chapinville5.7 miles42
Woodside5.8 miles44
Northborough6.3 miles44

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 611395. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.