Thorndike, Massachusetts
35 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Palmer Town City. It lies in ZIP code area 01069. It stands on Kings Mountain. The Survey maps it on the Palmer quadrangle.
Then and now
1887 to 1985The 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 sheets covering this place
35 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.
- 1887 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:62500
- 1889 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:62500
- 1893 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:62500
- 1908 USGS Ware quadrangle1:125000
- 1908 USGS Ware quadrangle1:125000
- 1919 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:62500
- 1942 USGS Ware quadrangle1:125000
- 1946 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:31680
- 1946 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:31680
- 1946 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:31680
- 1946 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:31680
- 1947 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:25000
- 1948 USGS Albany quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:31680
- 1954 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:24000
- 1954 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:24000
- 1956 USGS Albany quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Albany quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Albany quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Albany quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Albany quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:24000
- 1969 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:25000
- 1969 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:25000
- 1975 USGS Palmer quadrangle1:25000
- 1985 USGS Holyoke quadrangle1:100000
- 1985 USGS Holyoke quadrangle1:100000
Fires nearby
74 since 2015The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 74 fires within 5 miles of Thorndike between 2015 and 2020, burning about 62 acres in total. 7 started naturally. None was 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 |
|---|---|
| Equipment and vehicle use | 40 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 9 |
| Natural | 7 |
| Debris and open burning | 4 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 4 September 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 24 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 22 September 2018 | Natural | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 12 September 2016 | Natural | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 9 August 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 8 August 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 4 August 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 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 1,109 shownMuseums hold 1,109 specimens collected within 10 miles of Thorndike between 1857 and 1975: 550 Fungi, 314 Plantae, 225 Animalia, 15 Chromista, 5 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. C. Gibson, A. E. Kirk 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Polygonum pensylvanicum L. | 1897 | Morris,E.L. s.n. [1897-08] | [label: Flora of North America - Herbarium of E.L. Morris] Monson. Massachussets. Rubbish heaps |
![]() | Krigia virginica (L.) Willd. | 1857 | not recorded | |
![]() | Carex cephalophora Muhl. ex Willd. | 1858 | J. Blake | |
![]() | Carex vestita Willd. | 1858 | J. Blake | Ware |
![]() | Castilleja coccinea (L.) Spreng. | 1858 | A. P. Chute | |
![]() | Celastrus scandens L. | 1858 | s.coll. | |
![]() | Ranunculus flabellaris Raf. | 1858 | A. P. Chute | |
| Trifolium agrarium L. | 1858 | not recorded | ||
![]() | Zizia aurea (L.) W.D.J.Koch | 1859 | A. P. Chute | |
![]() | Carex tribuloides Wahlenb. | 1870 | H. G. Jesup | Belchertown |
| Acer spicatum Lam. | 1891 | not recorded | ||
| Chimaphila umbellata (L.) W.P.C.Barton | 1891 | not recorded | Belchertown |
All 1,109 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries nearby
9 within 5 milesThe federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Thorndike: 6 producers, 3 past producers. 6 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruschi Brothers | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| J J Raczka Sand and Gravel | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| J.J. Raczka Sand and Gravel Co. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Lizak's Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Machados Pit & Bruschi Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Palmer Bituminous Corp | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Palmer Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Palmer Sand and Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Tobias Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms nearby
1 since 2025The National Weather Service names Thorndike in 1 storm report between 2025 and 2025: 1 thunderstorm wind. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Thorndike | $1,000 | In Palmer, a tree and multiple power lines were down on Mount Dumplin Rd. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Four Corners | 0.7 miles | 35 | |
| Meadowbrook Green | 0.9 miles | 35 | |
| Palmer Center | 1.2 miles | 35 | |
| Three Rivers | 1.4 miles | 35 | |
| Whipples | 1.4 miles | 35 | |
| Palmer Green Estates | 1.6 miles | 35 | |
| Bondsville | 1.8 miles | 35 | |
| Palmer | 2.0 miles | 35 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 609612. 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.











































