Suffolk Downs Station, Massachusetts
43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1892 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Boston City. It lies in ZIP code area 02128. It stands on Orient Heights. The Survey maps it on the Lynn quadrangle.
Then and now
1892 to 1997The same ground, surveyed 105 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Topographic sheets covering this place
43 sheetsMatched 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.
- 1892 USGS Boston Bay quadrangle1:62500
- 1892 USGS Boston Bay quadrangle1:62500
- 1892 USGS Boston Bay quadrangle1:62500
- 1892 USGS Boston Bay quadrangle1:62500
- 1903 USGS Boston Bay quadrangle1:62500
- 1903 USGS Boston Bay quadrangle1:62500
- 1903 USGS Boston Bay quadrangle1:62500
- 1903 USGS Boston Bay quadrangle1:62500
- 1903 USGS Boston Bay quadrangle1:62500
- 1903 USGS Boston Bay quadrangle1:62500
- 1903 USGS Boston Bay quadrangle1:62500
- 1903 USGS Boston Bay quadrangle1:62500
- 1903 USGS Boston Bay quadrangle1:62500
- 1944 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:24000
- 1946 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:31680
- 1946 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:31680
- 1946 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:31680
- 1947 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:25000
- 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
- 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
- 1949 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:31680
- 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:24000
- 1956 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:24000
- 1956 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:24000
- 1956 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:24000
- 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000
- 1970 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:25000
- 1970 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:24000
- 1977 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:25000
- 1984 USGS Provincetown quadrangle1:100000
- 1984 USGS Provincetown quadrangle1:100000
- 1985 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:25000
- 1985 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:25000
- 1997 USGS Lynn quadrangle1:25000
What happened here
An account from the chapter on Boston city, in the words of 1894.
City Charter
IN giving some notices of manners and social life during this period, I shall speak first of usages which were characteristic of the close of the last century: most of them continued without essential modification until our city charter swept away the old landmarks, and Boston felt the im¬ pulses which mark a new epoch in her history.
Fires nearby
32 since 2003The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 32 fires within 5 miles of Suffolk Downs Station between 2003 and 2020, burning about 17 acres in total. None 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 |
| Debris and open burning | 9 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 3 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 23 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 23 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 22 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 21 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 13 August 2020 | Smoking | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 9 July 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Specimens collected nearby
12 of 16,027 shownMuseums hold 16,027 specimens collected within 10 miles of Suffolk Downs Station between 1810 and 1975: 7,505 Plantae, 3,898 Fungi, 2,778 Animalia, 1,318 Chromista, 227 Bacteria, 180 Protozoa, 121 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A B Seymour, A C Gibson 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 | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Thalictrum L. | 1810 | Boott, J.W. | Near Boston. |
![]() | Anemone L. | 1815 | Boott, J. | Andover Turnpike, 7 miles from Boston. |
![]() | Betula L. | 1815 | Boott, J.W. | Near Fresh Pond, Cambridge, 4 miles from Boston. |
![]() | Chenopodium album L. | 1815 | not recorded | Gathered at Bunker (properly Breed's) Hill. |
![]() | Corylus L. | 1815 | not recorded | Cambridge Port, 2 miles from Boston. |
| Ericaceae | 1815 | Boott | Boston, U.S.A. | |
| Acanthis flammea flammea (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1900 | Collector(s): James Lee Peters | Quincy | |
| Acer carpinifolium Siebold & Zucc. | 1900 | A. K. Harrison | Harvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge. | |
| Acer palmatum var. dissectum (Thunb.) Miq. | 1900 | A. K. Harrison | Harvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge. | |
| Agaricus flavescens (Gillet) Sacc. | 1900 | G. E. Morris | ||
| Agarum turneri Postels & Ruprecht | 1900 | J. Murdoch | Revere | |
| Alnus incana subsp. rugosa (Du Roi) R.T.Clausen | 1900 | J. Murdoch, Jr. | Roxbury |
All 16,027 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries nearby
10 of 11 shownThe federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Suffolk Downs Station: 7 plants, 2 producers, 1 past producer, 1 unknown. 9 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Lead, Gypsum-Anhydrite, Iron. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Facility) Vulcan Smelter--Chelsea, Ma. | Copper, Lead | Plant | ||
| Lynn Eastern Smelt & Refin Corp | Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium, Mercury | Plant | ||
| Syncor Prdts Co--Malden, Ma. | Silica | Plant | ||
| Us Gypsum Co--Boston | Gypsum-Anhydrite | Past Producer | ||
| Us Steel Supply Div--Boston | Iron | Plant | ||
| Whittemore Prdts Inc--Boston | Perlite | Plant | ||
| General Metals & Smelting--Boston | Lead | Plant | ||
| Somerville Smelting Co. | Lead | Plant | ||
| Malden Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Unknown | ||
| Malden Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orient Heights | 0.3 miles | 46 | |
| Beachmont | 0.7 miles | 43 | |
| Crescent Beach | 1.1 miles | 43 | |
| Court Park | 1.2 miles | 41 | |
| Winthrop | 1.3 miles | 43 | |
| Winthrop Highlands | 1.4 miles | 43 | |
| Cottage Park | 1.4 miles | 41 | |
| Revere | 1.5 miles | 46 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikidata item Q122542378 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 617371. 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.















































