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

Topsfield, Massachusetts

41 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1997. It stands in Topsfield town. It lies in ZIP code area 01983. It stands on Town Hill. The Survey maps it on the Georgetown quadrangle. 2,864 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 59 feet above sea level.

Topsfield within Essex County

Population over time

2 figures

Topsfield grew from 2,717 to 2,864 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20102,717
20202,864+147 (+5%)

Then and now

1888 to 1997

The same ground, surveyed 109 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Topsfield, surveyed 1997
Topographic sheet of Topsfield, surveyed 1888

Topographic sheets covering this place

41 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

77 since 2006

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 77 fires within 5 miles of Topsfield between 2006 and 2020, burning about 280 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 10 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 burning20
Missing data/not specified/undetermined13
Smoking13
Recreation and ceremony11
Arson/incendiarism10
Equipment and vehicle use5
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Fireworks1
Misuse of fire by a minor1
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
7 September 2020Arson/incendiarismunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBEVERLY
21 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
18 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
13 September 2020Smoking1.2 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
7 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlTOPSFIELD
21 August 2020Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 July 2020Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Essex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 3,735 shown

Museums hold 3,735 specimens collected within 10 miles of Topsfield between 1800 and 1975: 1,484 Plantae, 1,192 Animalia, 765 Fungi, 195 Unrecorded, 69 Chromista, 21 Bacteria, 9 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A Brown, A H HIGGINSON, A. A. Eaton 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
A photograph of the species Rhodocollybia prolixa, not of this specimenRhodocollybia prolixa var. distorta (Fr.) Antonín, Halling & Noordel.1800R. B. MackintoshPeabody
A photograph of the species Viola labradorica, not of this specimenViola labradorica Schrank1816not recordedAndover Turnpike, 6 miles from Boston U.S.A.
A photograph of the species Brasenia schreberi, not of this specimenBrasenia schreberi J.F.Gmel.1821not recordedPleasant Pond, Wenham, Mass.
A photograph of the species Diphyscium foliosum, not of this specimenDiphyscium foliosum (Hedw.) D.Mohr1822ALCOTT
A photograph of the species Arcyria oerstedii, not of this specimenArcyria oerstedii Rostaf., 18751826F. A. Gilbert
A photograph of the species Glyceria obtusa, not of this specimenGlyceria obtusa (Muhl.) Trin.1838W Oakes
A photograph of the species Clethra alnifolia, not of this specimenClethra alnifolia L.1840OakesHerbariumRowley
A photograph of the species Euphorbia polygonifolia, not of this specimenEuphorbia polygonifolia L.1840Wolle, J.Ipswich
A photograph of the species Iva frutescens, not of this specimenIva frutescens L.1840Oakesad Ipswich
A photograph of the species Potentilla anserina, not of this specimenPotentilla anserina L.1840Wolle, J.Ipswich
A photograph of the species Sisymbrium officinale, not of this specimenSisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop.1840OakesIpswich
A photograph of the species Splachnum ampullaceum, not of this specimenSplachnum ampullaceum Hedw.1843A. Gray; W. S. SullivantManchester

All 3,735 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

5 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Topsfield: 4 past producers, 1 plant. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Thorium, Sulfur. 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
Harriman MineSulfurPast Producer
Thiokol Ventron Div--Danvers, Ma.ThoriumPlant
Camillieri Corp PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
R W Drinkwater IncSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Topseal PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Essex County

Storms nearby

12 since 2001

The National Weather Service names Topsfield in 12 storm reports between 2001 and 2025: 7 thunderstorm wind, 1 funnel cloud, 1 flood, 1 hail. 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
October 2011FloodTopsfield$300,000The Ipswich River flooded the Topsfield Fairgrounds parking lot and grounds. This resulted in a delay in the opening of the annual Topsfield fair. Alternate parking lots had to be opened and shuttles used to transport patrons to and from the fair. Approximately 100 small businesses were affected by floodwaters flooding their travel trailers.
December 2014Debris FlowTopsfield$50,000Route 1 at Ipswich Road in Topsfield was closed in both directions due to a landslide. The landslide damaged four cars and left some of the road buried under three feet of mud.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindTopsfield$35,000Numerous trees and wires were downed throughout Topsfield, including on Valley Road and Route 97.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindTopsfield$15,000Trees and wires on Route 97 were downed by thunderstorm winds making the road impassable.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindTopsfield$15,000no account filed
August 2005Thunderstorm WindTopsfield$10,000no account filed
July 2021Thunderstorm WindTopsfield$3,500In Topsfield, multiple trees and wires were down on Washington Street, Grove Street, and Howlett Street.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindTopsfield$300There was a tree down blocking the road near Linebrook and Haverhill Rd.
August 2025Flash FloodTopsfield-In Topsfield, there was significant basement flooding to a residence on Woodside Rd. Inundation reportedly approached the height of the electrical panel of the home.
June 2013HailTopsfield-no account filed
July 2006Funnel CloudTopsfield-no account filed
July 2001Thunderstorm WindTopsfield-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Essex 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
Kinsman Corner1.3 miles41
Boxford3.0 miles41
Linebrook3.1 miles41
Putnamville3.6 miles42
Asbury Grove3.6 miles42
Hathorne3.8 miles42
Wenham3.9 miles42
Kings Forest3.9 miles41

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.

Wikipedia article on TopsfieldAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q13364092The 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 614354. 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.