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

The X, Massachusetts

50 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Springfield City. It lies in ZIP code area 01108. It stands on Entry Dingle Brook. The Survey maps it on the Springfield South quadrangle.

The X within Hampden County

Then and now

1886 to 1985

The same ground, surveyed 99 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of The X, surveyed 1985
Topographic sheet of The X, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

50 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

490 since 2002

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 490 fires within 5 miles of The X between 2002 and 2020, burning about 283 acres in total. 27 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/undetermined268
Equipment and vehicle use114
Debris and open burning29
Natural27
Recreation and ceremony24
Smoking22
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Arson/incendiarism2

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
9 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
7 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
6 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 September 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hampden County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,260 shown

Museums hold 1,260 specimens collected within 10 miles of The X between 1845 and 1975: 595 Animalia, 345 Plantae, 294 Fungi, 18 Chromista, 8 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. E. Kirk, A. K. Harrison, F. G. Floyd 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 Taphrina johansonii Sadeb.Taphrina johansonii Sadeb.1894W.G. Farlow
Specimen of Lygodium palmatum (Bernh.) Sw.Lygodium palmatum (Bernh.) Sw.1895Deane, WalterEast Longmeadow;;;;
Specimen of Calligrapha rhoda Knab, 1909Calligrapha rhoda Knab, 19091900F. KnabWest Springfield
A photograph of the species Galeopsis tetrahit, not of this specimenGaleopsis tetrahit L.1845not recorded
A photograph of the species Icterus galbula, not of this specimenIcterus galbula (Linnaeus, 1758)1857Collector(s): Joel Asaph AllenSpringfield
A photograph of the species Pipilo erythrophthalmus, not of this specimenPipilo erythrophthalmus erythrophthalmus (Linnaeus, 1758)1857Collector(s): Joel Asaph AllenSpringfield
A photograph of the species Setophaga aestiva, not of this specimenSetophaga aestiva aestiva (J.F.Gmelin, 1789)1857Collector(s): Joel Asaph AllenSpringfield
A photograph of the species Turdus migratorius, not of this specimenTurdus migratorius migratorius Linnaeus, 17661857Collector(s): Joel Asaph AllenSpringfield
A photograph of the species Rhinichthys atratulus, not of this specimenRhinichthys atratulus (Hermann, 1804)1859Wheatland, R.H.Chicopee River, at Chicopee, Hampden County, Massachusetts; Locality according to historical catalogue: 'Chicopa River, Massachusetts'/erroneous, is Chicopee River, at Chicopee, Massachusetts (according to MCZ online fish catalogue).
A photograph of the species Alosa sapidissima, not of this specimenAlosa sapidissima (Wilson, 1811)1860Smithsonian InstitutionSouth Hadley Falls
A photograph of the species Rhododendron canadense, not of this specimenRhododendron canadense (L.) Torr.1861not recordedChicopee
Alnus incana (L.) Moench1891unknownWoods Hall.

All 1,260 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 33 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 33 workings within 5 miles of The X: 16 past producers, 14 producers, 1 unknown, 1 occurrence. 15 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Dimension, Flagstone, Brick Clay, Clay. 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
Construction Aggregates PitGranite, Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Granby Quarry No 1Stone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Macia Emery MineEmeryOccurrenceEmery
W. New England Smelting Works IncCopperProducer
Bay State Refining Co--Chicopee, MaAluminumPlant
Chicopee PlantAluminumPast Producer
Chase PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
John PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Smith PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Clay PitBrick ClayProducerClay

Every working recorded in Hampden 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
Forest Park0.7 miles50
East Forest Park1.3 miles50
Old Hill1.3 miles50
South End1.5 miles50
Upper Hill1.6 miles50
Springfield2.0 miles50
McKnight and Bay2.2 miles50
Longmeadow2.8 miles50

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 617253. 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.