Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Southbridge, Massachusetts

39 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Southbridge Town City. It lies in ZIP code area 01550. It stands on Cady Brook. The Survey maps it on the Southbridge quadrangle.

Southbridge within Worcester County

Then and now

1887 to 1985

The same ground, surveyed 98 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Southbridge, surveyed 1985

Topographic sheet of Southbridge, surveyed 1887

Topographic sheets covering this place

39 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.

Fires nearby

23 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 23 fires within 5 miles of Southbridge between 2015 and 2020, burning about 10 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 2 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 burning	9
Smoking	6
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	4
Arson/incendiarism	2
Natural	1
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1

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

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
23 August 2020	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
30 July 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
27 June 2020	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
25 June 2020	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
22 June 2020	Natural	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
26 May 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
19 May 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
19 May 2016	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Worcester County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 482 shown

Museums hold 482 specimens collected within 10 miles of Southbridge between 1874 and 1975: 202 Animalia, 201 Plantae, 75 Fungi, 2 Chromista, 1 Unrecorded, 1 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. R. Hodgdon; L. B. Smith, A. R. Hodgdon; F. L. Steele, A. R. Hodgdon; L. B. Smith 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.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Carex tenera var. tenera	1899	R. M. Harper
Nitella megacarpa (T.F.A.) R.D.W.	1874	Piper, S. M.
Catharus guttatus faxoni (Bangs & T.E.Penard, 1921)	1888	not recorded	Oxford
Sphagnum tenellum (Schimp.) H.Klinggr.	1889	Edwin Faxon	Hammond's Pond
Gavia immer (Brunnich, 1764)	1890	Jones, Clinton Mellen	Southbridge
Parmotrema perforatum (Jacq.) A.Massal.	1890	G. E. Stone	Webster
Trichia contorta (Ditmar) Rostaf., 1875	1890	Harvey, F. L.
Diphyscium foliosum (Hedw.) D.Mohr	1891	Lucien M. Underwood
Lycaenidae	1894	not recorded
Cirsium muticum Michx.	1897	E. L. Morris	Charlton
Juncus tenuis Willd.	1897	E. L. Morris	Charlton
Apocynum androsaemifolium L.	1898	E. L. Morris	Wales

All 482 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

6 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Southbridge: 6 past producers. None of them still produces. 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.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Ciesla Brothers Inc	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Ciesla Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Highway Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Landfill Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Town of Southbridge	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Town of Sturbridge	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Storms nearby

13 since 2002

The National Weather Service names Southbridge in 13 storm reports between 2002 and 2023: 6 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 3 flood, 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
March 2010	Flood	Southbridge	$4,050,000	Three to seven inches of rain fell across portions of Worcester County, resulting in the Blackstone River at Northbridge rising to minor flood. The Nashua River at Clinton also rose above flood stage. Several roads and basements flooded in Leominster, Fitchburg, Lancaster, Milford, Mendon, Blackstone, Northbridge, and Shrewsbury. Reduced speed limits were imposed on the rail line between Framingham and Worcester.\|\|Clinton experienced substantial flooding two weeks prior to this event. The Nashua River at Clinton crested only four tenths of a foot lower than that event. However, because of the recent flooding, many preparations were made in advance of the rainfall. Roughly 10,000 sandbags were made and placed around Clinton with the help of the Massachusetts National Guard. This alleviated some of the damage that likely would have recurred with the three to six inches of rain that fell.
August 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Southbridge	$250,000	no account filed
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Southbridge	$2,000	no account filed
August 2023	Flash Flood	Southbridge	-	In Southbridge, several streets were flooded and impassable with cars stuck.
September 2022	Flood	Southbridge	-	In Southbridge, Dresser St. and Chapin St. were flooded and impassable due to a clogged storm drain in the area of Goddard at Depaul St. Relayed by amateur radio.
May 2010	Hail	Southbridge	-	Penny size hail fell on Route 131 on the Southbridge/Sturbridge line.
April 2010	Flood	Southbridge	-	Three to seven inches of rain fell across portions of Worcester County, resulting in the Blackstone River at Northbridge rising to minor flood. The Nashua River at Clinton also rose above flood stage. Several roads and basements flooded in Leominster, Fitchburg, Lancaster, Milford, Mendon, Blackstone, Northbridge, and Shrewsbury. Reduced speed limits were imposed on the rail line between Framingham and Worcester.\|\|Clinton experienced substantial flooding two weeks prior to this event. The Nashua River at Clinton crested only four tenths of a foot lower than that event. However, because of the recent flooding, many preparations were made in advance of the rainfall. Roughly 10,000 sandbags were made and placed around Clinton with the help of the Massachusetts National Guard. This alleviated some of the damage that likely would have recurred with the three to six inches of rain that fell.\|\|Damage amounts can be found in the March Storm Data when most of the damage occurred. Rivers and small streams remained in flood into April.
October 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Southbridge	-	Several trees were downed by thunderstorm winds on Route 169.
May 2013	Hail	Southbridge	-	no account filed
May 2013	Hail	Southbridge	-	no account filed
May 2013	Hail	Southbridge	-	no account filed
July 2012	Hail	Southbridge	-	no account filed
July 2002	Hail	Southbridge	-	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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Globe Village	0.9 miles	39
Sandersdale	1.2 miles	39
Westville	1.5 miles	39
West Dudley	3.2 miles	42
Sturbridge	3.3 miles	39
Robinson Crusoe Camp	3.5 miles	39
Old Sturbridge Village	4.1 miles	39
Snellville (historical)	4.4 miles	39

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 610145. 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.