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West Quincy, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Quincy City. It lies in ZIP code area 02169. It lies near Forbes Hill. The Survey maps it on the Boston South quadrangle.

West Quincy within Norfolk 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 West Quincy, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of West Quincy, surveyed 1893

On record in West Quincy

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 within a mile 12 of 20 shown

The National Register names another town for these. They stand within one mile of this settlement's coordinate.

Every listing in Norfolk County

Topographic sheets covering this place

17 surveys from 46 printed 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 county-history sources

94,488 words on this township

History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884 names this settlement in its chapter on Quincy City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

These words were written at the very time when the old epoch had come to a natural close, and the The silence of the West Quincy hills was now broken by the sharp ring of the sledge' on the drill, and loud blasts told of quarries from which gangs of busy men were taking huge blocks of stone to be carried off on the newly-devised railway, which, opened only the year before, was daily examined by curious visitors from far and_ near. Forces destined in a few years to wholly revolutionize the town were thus already actively at work. Though the mass had not yet been celebrated in Quincy, and, indeed, no new religious society had been organized there for more than a century, the. church and the town were no longer one. The separation had taken Most significant of all, the old church edifice of 1732, in which three whole genplace seven years before.

Passage source: History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884.

The stone deposits of the town had, up to 1825, not been developed at all; but from that year the On behalf of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, Gridley Bryant, of Scituate, then bought a quarry in West Quincy, the stone of which had already been examined and approved by Solomon Willard, and which has since been known as the The fame of Quincy granite Not that the existence and durable character of the stone had not long

Passage source: History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884.

1 By the State census of 1875 there appeared to be thirtyseven establishments in Quincy in the granite business in all its branches. They represented a capital of $588,200, a yearly influenced its character. The population underwent A new race, of different blood and religion, had come in. The native New Englander seemed to pass out of the fields into the shops, and men of foreign blood took his place. In 1830 the Congregational meeting-house, though then called "the Stone Temple," and the Episcopal Church were still the only buiidings in the town in which religious Mass had once or twice been observed in dwelling-houses. In 1831 a Universalist society was organized, and in 1832 they built a church, In 1834 another church was built by an Evangelical Congregational society ; and a third by the Methodist The Roman Catholics were still without a building. There were now many of that faith in Quincy, but they were emigrants and they were poor; the narrow but traditional prejudice against them and their faith, also, was strong and hard to be outgrown. About the year 1839 an occasional Mass was celebrated in the small West Quincy school-house; but those were the years when, under the combined Native American and anti-Catholic feeling, Massachusetts was in a dangerous mood. The Mount Benedict Monastery in Charlestown had not very long before been destroyed by a mob; and now in West Quincy those of the district who held other religious views expelled the Catholics from the school-house. Fortunately, better counsels and a kinder feeling prevailed, and after a short time the services were renewed there; nor were they again disturbed. In the autumn of 1842 St. Mary's Church in West Quincy was consecrated, and eleven years later, in 1853, St. John's Church was finished, standing almost on the spot where the Episcopal Church, removed twenty-one years before, had stood for a century. Another Catholic chapel was erected in the North District of the town in 1874. In 1842 there were about one hundred Catholics in Quincey; in 1884 there were more worshipers in the three Catholic churches than in all the other eight churches of the town combined.

Passage source: History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1884.

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 Quincy City - it names this place 1 more 1 time.

Fires near this place

226 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 226 fires within 5 miles of West Quincy between 2015 and 2020, burning about 132 acres in total. None started naturally. None 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
Recreation and ceremony168
Smoking36
Missing data/not specified/undetermined17
Debris and open burning3
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
7 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE
7 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE
5 September 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlQUINCY
29 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE
28 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE
22 September 2015Recreation and ceremony1.5 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlBRAINTREE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Norfolk County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 11,840 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 11,840 specimens collected within 10 miles of West Quincy between 1810 and 1975: 5,469 Plantae, 2,933 Fungi, 2,807 Animalia, 350 Chromista, 197 Protozoa, 54 Unrecorded, 30 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by (MARSDEN, H W), ?, 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.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Lysimachia × producta (A.Gray) FernaldLysimachia × producta (A.Gray) Fernald1900A. P. Chute
A photograph of the species Thalictrum L., not of this specimenThalictrum L.1810Boott, J.W.Near Boston.
A photograph of the species Anemone L., not of this specimenAnemone L.1815Boott, J.Andover Turnpike, 7 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Corylus L., not of this specimenCorylus L.1815not recordedCambridge Port, 2 miles from Boston.
Ericaceae1815BoottBoston, U.S.A.
A photograph of the species Hepatica Mill., not of this specimenHepatica Mill.1815Boott, F.M.B.Sweet Auburn.
A photograph of the species Limonium vulgare, not of this specimenLimonium vulgare Mill.1815not recordedOn Cragies Road [=near Cragies Bridge], 1 1/2 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Mollugo verticillata, not of this specimenMollugo verticillata L.1815Boott, F.M.B.Boston.
A photograph of the species Nuphar Sm., not of this specimenNuphar Sm.1815Boott, J.W.Worcester Turnpike 6 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Persicaria Mill., not of this specimenPersicaria (L.) Mill.1815Boott, J.W.Craigie's Road, 2 miles from Boston.
A photograph of the species Populus L., not of this specimenPopulus L.1815not recordedCambridgeport, 1 mile from Boston.
A photograph of the species Ranunculus L., not of this specimenRanunculus L.1815not recordedThicket at South Boston.

All 11,840 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of West Quincy: 2 producers, 1 past producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Granite, Stone, Crushed/Broken, 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
Braintree PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Old Colony Crushed StoneGranitePast ProducerGranite
Old Colony QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Norfolk County

Storms near this place

8 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names West Quincy in 8 storm reports between 2010 and 2023: 6 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2010FloodWest Quincy$8,000Several streets in the area of Quincy, Braintree, and Milton were flooded with one to two feet of water. One car was stuck in flood waters at Granite and Chickatawbut Roads in Quincy.
April 2017FloodWest Quincy$5,000At 944 AM EST an amateur radio operator reported a flooded basement on Bunker Hill Lane in Quincy.
August 2016FloodWest Quincy$5,000A car was stuck in flood waters on Independence Avenue and Bennington Street.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindWest Quincy$1,000In Quincy, a tree was down at 49 Nelson Street. Also, a tree was down on Furnace Brook Parkway.
July 2017FloodWest Quincy$1,000At 511 PM EST, an amateur radio operator reported Vernon Street flooded and impassable, with cars stuck in the flooding.
July 2023Flash FloodWest Quincy-In Quincy, I-93 North at exit 9 had the middle and right lanes flooded and impassable.
August 2017FloodWest Quincy-At 349 PM EST, a car was trapped in street flooding at junction of Independence Avenue and Bennington Street in Quincy.
July 2017FloodWest Quincy-At 333 PM EST, multiple cars were trapped in flood waters on Water Street in Quincy.

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.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
East Milton0.6 miles46
North Commons1.0 miles42
Wollaston1.0 miles46
Montclair1.3 miles46
Quincy Center1.4 miles42
Norfolk Downs1.5 miles46
Milton Hill1.6 miles46
Quincy1.6 miles46

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 613028. 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.