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

Wakefield Junction, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Wakefield town. It lies in ZIP code area 01880. It stands on Harts Hill. The Survey maps it on the Boston North quadrangle.

Wakefield Junction within Middlesex County

Then and now

1893 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 96 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Wakefield Junction, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Wakefield Junction, surveyed 1893

Topographic sheets covering this place

46 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.

In the 1908 county history

8,069 words on this township

The county history of 1908 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for the smaller places. Its township is covered in full.

The chapter on Wakefield Town covers the township.

Read the chapter on Wakefield Town - 8,069 words.

Fires nearby

70 since 2003

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 70 fires within 5 miles of Wakefield Junction between 2003 and 2020, burning about 27 acres in total. None started naturally. 9 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 burning16
Missing data/not specified/undetermined16
Recreation and ceremony16
Arson/incendiarism9
Smoking5
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Equipment and vehicle use2

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
25 September 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlSAUGUS
23 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
21 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 August 2015Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlAMESBURY
31 August 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
30 August 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlLYNNFIELD
26 August 2017Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
20 August 2017Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlWINCHESTER

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,149 shown

Museums hold 1,149 specimens collected within 10 miles of Wakefield Junction between 1898 and 1975: 456 Animalia, 408 Plantae, 250 Fungi, 17 Bacteria, 8 Unrecorded, 5 Chromista, 5 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A B Seymour, A B. Proper 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 Trientalis borealis Raf.Trientalis borealis Raf.1900A. P. Chute
Aglaospora profusa (Fr.) De Not.1898Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Bulbostylis capillaris, not of this specimenBulbostylis capillaris var. crebra Fernald1898C. H. KnowltonBoston.
A photograph of the species Cantharellus infundibuliformis, not of this specimenCantharellus infundibuliformis (Scop.) Fr.1898not recordedMelrose.
A photograph of the species Cladonia coccifera, not of this specimenCladonia coccifera (L.) Willd.1898Francis P DanielsCambridge
A photograph of the species Cladonia rangiferina, not of this specimenCladonia rangiferina (L.) Weber1898Francis P DanielsArlington Heights
A photograph of the species Cordyceps capitata, not of this specimenCordyceps capitata (Holmsk.) Link1898Conant, [?] F.Middlesex Fells
A photograph of the species Ctenidium malacodes, not of this specimenCtenidium malacodes Mitt.1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Cucurbitaria elongata, not of this specimenCucurbitaria elongata (Fr.) Grev.1898J. G. Hall
A photograph of the species Acer carpinifolium, not of this specimenAcer carpinifolium Siebold & Zucc.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
A photograph of the species Acer palmatum, not of this specimenAcer palmatum var. dissectum (Thunb.) Miq.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
A photograph of the species Aphanochaete repens, not of this specimenAphanochaete repens A.Braun1900F. S. CollinsMiddlesex Fells, Wright's Pond, on Oedogonium, etc.

All 1,149 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 12 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 12 workings within 5 miles of Wakefield Junction: 5 producers, 3 plants, 3 past producers, 1 unknown. 8 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Silica, Iron, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Austin Hastings--Woburn, Ma.IronPlant
New England Crushing CoSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Ferro Ceramic Grinding--WakefieldSilicaPlant
Syncor Prdts Co--Malden, Ma.SilicaPlant
Malden QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenUnknown
Malden QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Marlborough Plant/Polishing PlatesStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Richardson QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Roma Stone PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Saugus QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Middlesex 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
Wakefield0.7 miles40
Greenwood1.1 miles46
Farm Hill1.1 miles46
Montrose1.6 miles40
Melrose Highlands1.8 miles46
Stoneham1.9 miles46
Lindenwood2.2 miles46
Reading2.4 miles40

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 Q122594022The 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 612839. 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.