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

Ward Corner, Massachusetts

43 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1988. It stands in Chelmsford town. It lies in ZIP code area 01824. It stands on Providence Hill. The Survey maps it on the Westford quadrangle.

Ward Corner within Middlesex County

Then and now

1886 to 1988

The same ground, surveyed 102 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Ward Corner, surveyed 1988
Topographic sheet of Ward Corner, surveyed 1886

Topographic sheets covering this place

43 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

41 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 41 fires within 5 miles of Ward Corner between 2015 and 2020, burning about 19 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 1 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
Debris and open burning18
Missing data/not specified/undetermined16
Recreation and ceremony3
Natural1
Smoking1
Other causes1
Arson/incendiarism1

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
6 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
2 July 2015Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
18 June 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlNEEDHAM
9 May 2015Other causesunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 May 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 May 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 May 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 May 2015Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 447 shown

Museums hold 447 specimens collected within 10 miles of Ward Corner between 1898 and 1975: 183 Animalia, 155 Plantae, 77 Fungi, 29 Protozoa, 3 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. F. Newton, A. F. Newton, M. K. Thayer 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 Boletus griseus, not of this specimenBoletus griseus Frost1898H. Webster
A photograph of the species Exosporium pusillum, not of this specimenExosporium pusillum P.Karst.1898King C. A.Stony Brook
A photograph of the species Salix eriocephala, not of this specimenSalix eriocephala Michx.1898E. F. Williams
A photograph of the species Aristida dichotoma, not of this specimenAristida dichotoma Michx.1899E. F. Williams
Arthrosporium compositum Ellis1899RorerEast Billerica
A photograph of the species Bidens cernua, not of this specimenBidens cernua L.1899E. F. Williams
A photograph of the species Fuirena pumila, not of this specimenFuirena pumila (Torr.) Spreng.1899E. F. Williams
A photograph of the species Galium tinctorium, not of this specimenGalium tinctorium (L.) Scop.1899not recorded
A photograph of the species Marsilea quadrifolia, not of this specimenMarsilea quadrifolia L.1899not recorded
Araiospora pulchra Thaxt.1900Thaxter, R.Stony Brook
A photograph of the species Boletus frostii, not of this specimenBoletus frostii J.L.Russell1900A. W. Flint
A photograph of the species Cephalanthus occidentalis, not of this specimenCephalanthus occidentalis L.1900M. RodmanConcord.

All 447 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 Ward Corner: 20 past producers, 9 producers, 3 plants, 1 occurrence. 12 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Copper, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Fiber Matls Plant--Graniteville, MaGraphitePlant
Carlisle DepositCopperOccurrence
Chelmsford MillStone, Crushed/BrokenPlant
Cu ProspectCopperPast Producer
West Chelmsford QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Fletcher Westford QuarryGraniteProducer
Forest Road QuarryGranitePast Producer
Guilmette Bros GraniteGranitePast ProducerGranite
H E Fletcher CoGranitePast ProducerGranite
Le Masurier Granite Quarry IncGranitePast ProducerGranite

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
South Chelmsford1.2 miles43
Chelmsford2.1 miles41
Brookside Station2.2 miles43
Westford2.2 miles43
Westford Station2.5 miles43
Chelmsford Center2.6 miles41
West Chelmsford2.7 miles43
Nabnasset2.7 miles43

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 617915. 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.