BlockWebster, Massachusetts
42 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1889 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Webster town. It lies in ZIP code area 01570. It stands on Potash Brook. The Survey maps it on the Webster quadrangle. 12,194 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 463 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1889 to 1989The same ground, surveyed 100 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
On record in Webster
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 8 records
District Five Schoolhouselisted 1991
Eddy Blocklisted 1980
Main Street Historic Districtlisted 1982
Rock Castle Schoollisted 1989
Shumway Blocklisted 1980
Spaulding Blocklisted 1980
Thompson Schoollisted 1989
Webster Municipal Buildings Historic Districtlisted 2012
Surveyed buildings and structures 3 records
- George B. Slater Carriage House, 216 North Main Street, Websterfederal building survey, 9 photographs
- North Village Bridge, Spanning French River on North Main Street, Websterfederal building survey, 15 photographs
- North Village Schoolhouse, North Main Street, .125 mile South of Dlater Street, Websterfederal building survey, 7 photographs
Businesses named in the fire insurance atlases 12 of 25 shown
- Universalist ChurchChurch, in the atlas of 1888 to 1904
- Woolen MillsMill, in the atlas of 1888 to 1898
- Baptist ChurchChurch, in the atlas of 1893 to 1904
- City HotelHotel, in the atlas of 1898 to 1904
- High SchoolSchool, in the atlas of 1898 to 1904
- Hotel De WittHotel, in the atlas of 1898 to 1904
- Keegan, L., Woolen MillMill, in the atlas of 1898 to 1904
- Public SchoolSchool, in the atlas of 1888 to 1898
- Catholie ChurchChurch, in the atlas of 1904
- Congregational ChurchChurch, in the atlas of 1898
- De Witt HotelHotel, in the atlas of 1888
- French Parochial SchoolSchool, in the atlas of 1893
Population over time
2 figuresWebster grew from 11,412 to 12,194 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, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 11,412 | |
| 2020 | 12,194 | +782 (+7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
18 surveys from 42 printed 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.
- 1889 USGS Webster quadrangle1:62500
- 1892 USGS Webster quadrangle1:62500, 9 printings
- 1908 USGS Quinsigamond quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1921 USGS Webster quadrangle1:62500
- 1943 USGS Quinsigamond quadrangle1:125000
- 1945 USGS Webster quadrangle1:31680, 2 printings
- 1948 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS Webster quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1953 USGS Webster quadrangle1:31680
- 1956 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1958 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Boston quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1969 USGS Webster quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1969 USGS Webster quadrangle1:25000
- 1975 USGS Webster quadrangle1:25000
- 1982 USGS Webster quadrangle1:25000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000
- 1989 USGS Boston quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
10,167 words on this townshipHistory of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889 names this settlement in its chapter on Webster Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
In the town of Helper, Derbyshire, England, on the 9th of June, 1768, Samuel Slater, the founder of the town of Webster, was born. On the 28th of June, 1782, at the age of fourteen, he was apprenticed for seven years to Jedediah Strutt, a partner of Arkwright, to learn the business of manufacturing cotton. At about the time of the close of his apprenticeship he saw an advertisement of a premium for the introduction of Arkwright machinery into the United States, and being familiar with the methods used by his employer, he determined to seek his fortunes in the New World. On the 1st of September, 1789, he left Derbyshire for London, and on the 13th of the same month sailed for New York, where he arrived after a sixty-six days' passage. He at first engaged his services to the New York Manufacturing Company, but, after a few weeks, hearing of Moses Brown, of Providence, he wrote to that gentleman on the 2d of December, offering his services in the line of his trade. On the 10th of December Mr. Brown replied, inviting him to Providence, to which place he removed in January, 1790. On the 5th of April in that year he signed a contract to construct machinery after the plan of that with which he had become familiar during his apprenticeship. He soon became engaged in Pawtucket, R. I., in the successful manufacture of cotton-yarn, which was sold to be woven on hand-looms into cloth by domestic labor.
Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.
While engaged in this business, Mr. James Tiffany, of the town of Wales, in Massachusetts, then known as South Brimfield, became acquainted with Mr. Slater in his trading expeditions to Pawtucket, and at his request Mr. Slater took his two sons, Lyman and Bela TiffaJiy, into his employ. Through Mr. Tiffany, Mr. Slater was informed of the existence of water-power in what is now Webster, and in 1811 Bela Tiffany was sent to examine it. In a letter, dated May 27, 1811, Bela Tiffany wrote to Mr. Slater that he had found on the examined premises a two-story house unfinished, a grist-mill with two sione.s, a good saw-mill, a trip-hammer shop, thirteen or fourteen acres of land, one-half of which was swamp, and water-fall sufficient for all practicable purposes. He added that the region was a most benighted one, four miles from Oxford, three miles from Dudley and six and one-half miles from Thompson, in Connecticut. The price asked was $4000, and he wrote that he had secured a refusal of the property until the 20th of June. The result of the examination was the purchase of the property in the name of Bela Tiffany, and this purchase was followed by others, including a farm of two hundred and twenty acres, with a house and barn, nine and one-half acres bought of Elijah Pratt, and before the close of the year 1812 about two hundred and sixty acres more from various persons. In December, 1812, Mr. Tiflany transferred to Mr. Slater five-sixths of the property, retaining one-sixth as his own interest in the enterprise.
Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.
Mills were at once erected, and in 1813 Slater & Tiffany began in what is now Webster the manufacture of cotton yarn. At the same time a dye and bleaching-house was erected and placed under the charge of John Tyson, who took an interest in the business. Mr. Tyson died August 2, 1821, and his interest passed into the hands of Mr. Slater. Other purchases of land were made by Slater & Tiffany in 1814 and 1815, but on the 27th of November, 1816, during the depression in manufactures which followed the War of 1812, Mr. Tiffany sold his interest to Mr. Slater for $8400. During the war the company began the manufacture of broadcloth under the superintendence of Edward Howard, a Yorkshireman, who had at home been engaged in the business.
Passage source: History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, published 1889.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Webster Town - it names this place 35 more 35 times.
Fires near this place
78 since 2007Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 78 fires within 5 miles of Webster between 2007 and 2020, burning about 122 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 3 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/undetermined | 32 |
| Debris and open burning | 25 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 11 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Connecticut Division of Forestry | 11 HOLMES STREET |
| 19 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Connecticut Division of Forestry | 1017 RIVERSIDE DRIVE |
| 19 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Connecticut Division of Forestry | 1175 RIVERSIDE DRIVE |
| 8 August 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 6 August 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 22 August 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 28 July 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Connecticut Division of Forestry | 1405 RIVERSIDE DR, THOMPSON |
| 27 July 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 5.0 acres | Connecticut Division of Forestry | RIVERSIDE DRIVE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Specimens collected near this place
12 of 409 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 409 specimens collected within 10 miles of Webster between 1857 and 1975: 209 Animalia, 157 Plantae, 30 Fungi, 10 Protozoa, 2 Chromista, 1 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. S. Pease, Agassiz, Agassiz, Alexander Emanuel Rodolphe 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Hyla versicolor LeConte, 1825 | 1857 | Weinland, David Friedrich | |
 | Bufo americanus Holbrook, 1836 | 1859 | not recorded | |
 | Pseudacris crucifer (Wied-Neuwied, 1838) | 1859 | Weinland, David Friedrich | |
 | Rana pipiens Schreber, 1782 | 1859 | Weinland, David Friedrich | |
 | Rana sylvatica LeConte, 1825 | 1859 | Agassiz, Jean Louis Rodolphe | |
 | Notophthalmus viridescens (Rafinesque, 1820) | 1860 | Agassiz | |
| Clemmys insculpta Fitzinger, 1835 | 1864 | Salmin | ||
 | Clemmys guttata (Schneider, 1792) | 1869 | Salmin | |
 | Coccyzus erythropthalmus (A.Wilson, 1811) | 1875 | Francois Hue | |
| Sterna hirundo hirundo Linnaeus, 1758 | 1892 | Babbitt, J P | Massachusetts | |
| Accipiter striatus Vieillot, 1808 | 1894 | not recorded | MASSACHUSETTS: Ponkahog | |
| Ammodramus caudacutus (J.F.Gmelin, 1788) | 1896 | W. J. Wirt | MASSACHUSETTS: North Town |
All 409 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 19 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 19 workings within 5 miles of Webster: 17 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Haven Traprock Co. Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Charlton Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Janeczek Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Janeczek Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Kappys Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Kaprys Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Leo Construction Co | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Minarik Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Minarik Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Old Webster Road Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
21 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Webster in 21 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 13 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 2 flood, 2 tornado. The reports record 1 injury. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2018 | Tornado (EF1) | Webster | 1 hurt, $5,000,000 | In just about one minute, an EF-1 tornado, with maximum winds estimated at 110 mph, wreaked havoc in the easternmost portion of Dudley, MA and in the downtown portion of Webster, MA. It touched down along Route 12 (Schofield Avenue) to the west of Laprise Court in Dudley and traveled northeastward onto Main Street in Webster, then lifted near the French River by Oxford Avenue. ||Many trees were snapped and debarked. In Webster, a gas station overhang was twisted. An old brick rooftop was damaged, with bricks having fallen onto Main Street. The rubber roof covering of another building was peeled completely off. Windows were blown out at a business on Main Street and the street was littered with broken glass. The side walls of an apartment complex were bent slightly outward toward the tornado. Window screens were sucked outward. A car windshield and side mirror was damaged. There were other reports of trees fallen onto cars. Utility poles were snapped and numerous wires were downed. According to MEMA, at least 3 buildings were condemned and at least 5 were uninhabitable.||Nearly everyone that our survey team spoke with had heard the warning via the Wireless Emergency Alert on their cell phones as much as 20+ minutes in advance of the touchdown! This undoubtedly played a big role in the fact that there were no fatalities. According to media reports, there was one minor injury when part of a roof fell on top of a woman's car. |
| June 2023 | Lightning | Webster | $100,000 | In Webster at 411 PM EDT (311 PM EST), lightning caused a house fire on Colonial Road. Subsequent follow-up with the fire department revealed that there was $100,000 in water damage to the home from extinguishing the fire. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Webster | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 2021 | Lightning | Webster | $20,000 | In Webster, lightning caused a 2.5-story house to catch fire on School Street. |
| August 2021 | Tornado (EF0) | Webster | $10,000 | A weak tornado touched town in the town of |Thompson in northern Windham County, Connecticut. A NWS |meteorologist conducted a storm survey following tips from amateur |radio operators and local broadcast meteorologists. The following |information summarizes all of the reports. ||The tornado touched down near a red barn near the intersection of |Quinebaug Road (Route 131) and Riverside Drive (Route 12). It was |reported to be about 50 yards wide and tracked northeastward in a |discontinuous path, impacting areas just south of Ryler Court at |Riverside Drive, Wilsonville Road, Wagher Road, and Denis Drive at |Labby Road. It then crossed the Massachusetts/Connecticut state |line and ended as a waterspout in Lake Chaubunagungamaug. Although |discontinuous, the total path length was 4.7 miles. The approximate |path width was 50 yards. Damage photos led to estimates of maximum |wind speeds of 80 to 85 mph, which puts this on the upper end of |the EF0 category of the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The time, based on |radar and eyewitness accounts, was from 1015 AM to 1024 AM EDT. ||More specifically, when the tornado touched down near Backwater |Brook, it snapped several trees in half in a convergent fashion. |It caused minor backyard damage at a nearby property before felling |numerous trees and power lines near the intersection of Riverside |Drive and Ryler Court. Tree damage was also reported at Wilsonville |Road and several trees were snapped in the backyard of a house near |Wagher Road and Forest Hill Drive. A tree was partially snapped near |Denis Drive at Labby Road before causing minor damage near Woods |Grove. Finally, multiple residents witnessed a waterspout over Lake |Chaubunagungamaug before dissipating near Killdeer Island. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Webster | $10,000 | no account filed |
| October 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Webster | $5,000 | In Webster, a tree was on 3rd Street, on Loveland Street, and a tree was down on a house on Anthony Street. |
| July 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Webster | $5,000 | A tree was downed on a car on Slater Street. |
| August 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Webster | $5,000 | Wires on Perryville Road were downed by thunderstorm winds. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Webster | $4,000 | In Webster, multiple trees and wires were down on Highland Street. One tree fell onto the side of a house. One utility pole was snapped. Also, multiple wires were down on School Street. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Webster | $4,000 | In Dudley, two trees were down on Flaxfield Road -- one fell onto a house. |
| July 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Webster | $1,000 | In webster, trees and wires were reported down on Lakeside Avenue. |
| July 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Webster | $500 | In Dudley, a tree was down on Chase Ave. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Webster | $300 | In Webster, a tree was down blocking most of Ardlock Place near the intersection with West Main St. |
| June 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Webster | $300 | In Webster, wires were down on Lake Parkway. |
| July 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Webster | - | In Webster, a trained spotter estimated a wind gust to 60 mph. |
| June 2017 | Hail | Webster | - | At 433 PM EST, a trained spotter reported nickel-size hail at Webster. |
| August 2016 | Flood | Webster | - | Flooding was observed on Pine Street from Mill Street to Oxford Avenue. |
| August 2016 | Flood | Webster | - | Water one foot deep flooded the intersection of Oxford Avenue and Pine Street. |
| May 2006 | Hail | Webster | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Webster | - | no account filed |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merino Village (historical) | 0.4 miles | 42 | |
| Merino Village | 0.5 miles | 42 | |
| Fennerville | 0.9 miles | 42 | |
| Sunnyside | 0.9 miles | 42 | |
| Chaseville | 1.1 miles | 42 | |
| East Village | 1.1 miles | 43 | |
| Perryville | 1.8 miles | 42 | |
| Wawela Park | 2.3 miles | 43 |
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 Webster | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7978881 | The 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 610298. 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.