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

Westport Factory, Massachusetts

31 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Westport town. It lies in ZIP code area 02790. It stands on Bread and Cheese Brook. The Survey maps it on the Fall River East quadrangle.

Westport Factory within Bristol County

Then and now

1888 to 1985

The same ground, surveyed 97 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Westport Factory, surveyed 1985
Topographic sheet of Westport Factory, surveyed 1888

Topographic sheets covering this place

31 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

119,038 words on this township

History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883 names this settlement in its chapter on Westport Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Nineteen years later the militia of ancient Dartmouth had been increased to nine companies, and that part of these forces in what subsequently became Westport appeared under these officers, viz. : Robert Earl, captain ; Sylvester Brownell, lieutenant; and John Hix, ensign.

Passage source: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883.

Barber, in his " Historical Collections," published in 1848, in speaking of Westport, says, "This town, previous to its incorporation in 1787, was a part of Dartmouth. There are two small villages in the town, one at the head of East River, the other at Westport Point. The people are much divided in religious sentiments. There are five meeting-houses : two for Friends, two for Baptists, and one for Methodists. There is also a small society of Congregational ists. The village at the head of East or Nochacuck River is about eight* miles from New Bedford, eight from Franklin, and twenty-one from Newport. Formerly considerable quantities of timber were obtained in this town. The whale fishery is now an important branch of business ; eight whaling vessels now go out from Westport Point. There is a cottonmill in this town having 3072 spindles, which in 1837 consumed 300,000 pounds of cotton ; 270,000 pounds of cotton yarn were manufactured, the value of which was $67,500."

Passage source: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883.

Westport in 1883. - The town of Westport has five post-offices, viz. : North Westport, Westport, South Westport, Central village, and Westport Point. The principal villages are Westport Point, Head of Westport, and Westport Factory.

Passage source: History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1883.

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 Westport Town - it names this place 6 more 6 times.

Fires near this place

41 since 2001

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 41 fires within 5 miles of Westport Factory between 2001 and 2020, burning about 39 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 4 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/undetermined19
Debris and open burning11
Arson/incendiarism4
Recreation and ceremony3
Fireworks2
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Natural1

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
15 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
9 August 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
8 August 2002Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMassachussetts State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
3 August 2020Debris and open burning1.0 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 August 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 August 2020Fireworksunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
11 August 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 July 2018Fireworksunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Bristol County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 1,907 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,907 specimens collected within 10 miles of Westport Factory between 1824 and 1975: 970 Animalia, 545 Fungi, 351 Plantae, 34 Chromista, 4 Unrecorded, 3 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. B. Gridley, A. B. Hervey, A. Clark 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 Gamochaeta purpurea, not of this specimenGamochaeta purpurea (L.) Cabrera1824T. A. Greene
A photograph of the species Lythrum salicaria, not of this specimenLythrum salicaria L.1831T. A. Greene
A photograph of the species Mentha aquatica, not of this specimenMentha aquatica L.1831Collector unknownNew Bedford. [Inferred county from precise loc.]
A photograph of the species Trypethelium virens, not of this specimenTrypethelium virens Tuck.1848ex herb. OakesNew Bedford.
A photograph of the species Ranunculus bulbosus, not of this specimenRanunculus bulbosus L.1850not recorded
A photograph of the species Vitis labrusca, not of this specimenVitis labrusca L.1850not recorded
A photograph of the species Endocarpon pusillum, not of this specimenEndocarpon pusillum Hedw.1858H. WilleyFort Phoenix. Fairhaven.
A photograph of the species Menegazzia terebrata, not of this specimenMenegazzia terebrata (Hoffm.) A.Massal.1860H. WilleyNew Bedford
A photograph of the species Pandion haliaetus, not of this specimenPandion haliaetus (Linnaeus, 1758)1860Alan PooleWestport, Westport River, Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary
A photograph of the species Scolopax minor, not of this specimenScolopax minor J.F.Gmelin, 17891860Alan PooleWestport
A photograph of the species Abrothallus parmeliarum, not of this specimenAbrothallus parmeliarum (Sommerf.) Nyl., 18691862Willey H.Weymouth, New Bedford
A photograph of the species Agyrium rufum, not of this specimenAgyrium rufum (Pers.) Fr.1862Willey HenryNew Bedford

All 1,907 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 10 workings within 5 miles of Westport Factory: 8 past producers, 2 producers. 2 still produce. 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.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Clearwater Stone IncStonePast Producer
Boan Farm PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Clearwater Pit and PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Dartmouth PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Dartmouth Town PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Louis Fernandez Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Medeiros Washed Sand & Stone PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Pine Hill Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Westport DivisionSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Bristol County

Storms near this place

1 since 2022

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Westport Factory in 1 storm report between 2022 and 2022: 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
September 2022Flash FloodWestport Factory$1,000In Westport, Cheryl's Way was flooded with debris and rocks in the road. Report relayed by amateur radio.

Every storm recorded in Bristol 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
Suburban Park0.9 miles31
Berryman Corner1.2 miles31
Sissons Corner1.3 miles37
Head of Westport1.4 miles37
Hillcrest1.7 miles31
Giffords Corner2.0 miles37
Kempton Croft2.1 miles31
Beulah Corners2.4 miles31

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 Q122592829The 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 613279. 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.