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

Wellesley, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1886 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Wellesley town. It lies in ZIP code area 02482. It stands on Fuller Brook. The Survey maps it on the Natick quadrangle.

Wellesley within Norfolk County

Then and now

1886 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 103 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Wellesley, surveyed 1989

Topographic sheet of Wellesley, surveyed 1886

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.

Photographs

2 photographs,

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

William H. Winn House, 99 Pond Road (moved from New Bridge Avenue & Winn Street, Burlington, MA), Wellesley, Norfolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Cheney Bridge, Elm Bank Estate, Wellesley, Norfolk County, MA
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Fires nearby

123 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 123 fires within 5 miles of Wellesley between 2015 and 2020, burning about 53 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 2 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
Recreation and ceremony	56
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	39
Debris and open burning	14
Power generation/transmission/distribution	4
Smoking	4
Arson/incendiarism	2
Misuse of fire by a minor	1
Fireworks	1
Other causes	1
Natural	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 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
4 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	NEEDHAM
3 September 2018	Smoking	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
3 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	NEEDHAM
23 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
23 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	WELLESLEY
22 September 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	not named
21 September 2015	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control	NEEDHAM

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Norfolk County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 11,356 shown

Museums hold 11,356 specimens collected within 10 miles of Wellesley between 1805 and 1975: 5,161 Animalia, 3,189 Plantae, 2,717 Fungi, 134 Protozoa, 94 Chromista, 41 Unrecorded, 20 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, ? ex Herb. W.G. Farlow, A C Gibson 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.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Araiospora pulchra Thaxt.	1900	R. Thaxter	Stony Brook
Hypoprepia fucosa Hübner, 1831	1900	not recorded	Sherborn
Margaritifera margaritifera (Linnaeus, 1758)	1805	Bryant, O.	Wash Brook, So. Sudbury, Mass.
Corydalis Vent.	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Worcester turnpike, 6 miles from Boston.
Corylus L.	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Worcester Turnpike, 7 miles from Boston.
Hepatica Mill.	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Sweet Auburn.
Nuphar Sm.	1815	Boott, J.W.	Worcester Turnpike 6 miles from Boston.
Sassafras J.Presl	1815	Boott, F.M.B.	Worcester Turnpike, 6 miles from Boston.
Thalictrum L.	1815	not recorded	Worcester Turnpike.
Viola L.	1815	Boott, J.W.	Worcester Turnpike, 7 miles from Boston, U.S.A. [Identical locality information is written on the reverse of the sheet.]
Alnus Mill.	1816	not recorded	Brighton, 4 miles from Boston.
Aquilegia L.	1816	not recorded	Brighton 3½ miles from Boston.

All 11,356 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

7 within 5 miles

The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Wellesley: 6 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Walpole Quarry	Stone	Past Producer
Greendale Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Hi-Way Pit and Mill	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Town of Natick	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Town of Needham	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Town of Wellesley	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Town of Wellesley	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Norfolk County

Storms nearby

17 since 1998

The National Weather Service names Wellesley in 17 storm reports between 1998 and 2023: 10 thunderstorm wind, 3 hail, 1 heavy rain, 1 flood. 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
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Wellesley	$50,000	Trees and branches on Dewing Path, Route 16, Brooke Street, Leighton Road, and Weston Road were downed by thunderstorm winds. One of the trees fell onto a house and another broke a utility pole.
July 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Wellesley	$20,000	A tree on Route 135 East near Wellesley College was downed by thunderstorm winds. Another tree on Chatham Circle and power lines on Howe Street also were downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Wellesley	$20,000	no account filed
August 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Wellesley	$10,000	Trees on Weston and Dover Roads were downed by thunderstorm winds.
July 2008	Lightning	Wellesley	$10,000	no account filed
October 2006	Flood	Wellesley	$8,000	Significant urban flooding was reported in Wellesley.
August 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Wellesley	$5,000	A large tree and wires on Pine Street were downed by thunderstorm winds.
August 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Wellesley	$5,000	A tree and wires were downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Wellesley	$2,500	In Wellesley, multiple trees were down on Kingsbury Street, Abbott Street, and Washington Street.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Wellesley	$1,000	At 1245 PM EST, a tree was brought down blocking Crescent Street in Wellesley.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Wellesley	$800	In Wellesley, a tree was down at the intersection of Walnut Street and Whittier Road. Also a large branch was down at 33 Cedar Street.
July 2023	Flash Flood	Wellesley	-	In Wellesley, the 300 block of Washington St was completely flooded.
July 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Wellesley	-	Two large branches and a couple of wires down.
August 2015	Hail	Wellesley	-	no account filed
May 2013	Hail	Wellesley	-	no account filed
July 2008	Hail	Wellesley	-	no account filed
June 1998	Heavy Rain	Wellesley	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Norfolk 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Wellesley Hills	1.1 miles	46
Grantville	1.5 miles	46
Wellesley Fells	1.5 miles	46
Babson Park	1.8 miles	46
Overbrook	1.8 miles	46
Wellesley Farms	2.0 miles	46
Charles River Station	2.8 miles	46
Charles River Village	3.0 miles	46

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612021. 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.