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

Westwood Hills, Massachusetts

45 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1885 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Worcester City. It lies in ZIP code area 01602. It stands on Hancock Hill. The Survey maps it on the Worcester North quadrangle.

Westwood Hills within Worcester County

Then and now

1885 to 1989

The same ground, surveyed 104 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Westwood Hills, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Westwood Hills, surveyed 1885

Topographic sheets covering this place

45 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.

What happened here

An account from the chapter on Worcester city, in the words of 1889.

1889, Worcester City

History Op W0R0E3Ter County, Massachusetts

of war, generally proved faithful to the English, and their services as scouts were invaluable. Among these none deserves better to be honored in Lancaster story than James Wiser, alias Quanapaug or Quanapohit, whose courage and fidelity would have saved the town from the massacre of 1676, had not his timely warning been unwisely discredited by the apparently lethargic Governor and his slumberous Council.

Read the rest of this passage

Fires nearby

58 since 2015

The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 58 fires within 5 miles of Westwood Hills between 2015 and 2020, burning about 56 acres in total. None started naturally. 8 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
Debris and open burning19
Recreation and ceremony10
Missing data/not specified/undetermined9
Smoking9
Arson/incendiarism8
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
3 September 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
14 September 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
7 June 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
5 June 2020Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
4 June 2020Debris and open burning1.5 acresMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
26 June 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
17 June 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Worcester County

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 1,628 shown

Museums hold 1,628 specimens collected within 10 miles of Westwood Hills between 1839 and 1974: 955 Plantae, 380 Animalia, 269 Fungi, 16 Unrecorded, 6 Protozoa, 2 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A E WOODHEAD, A. A. Eaton, A. B. Seymour 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 Sceptridium dissectum (Spreng.) LyonSceptridium dissectum (Spreng.) Lyon1899H. H. Scudder
Specimen of Pooecetes gramineus gramineus (J.F.Gmelin, 1789)Pooecetes gramineus gramineus (J.F.Gmelin, 1789)1900Roscoe I. Giles
A photograph of the species Ochrolechia tartarea, not of this specimenOchrolechia tartarea (L.) A.Massal.1839E. Tuckerman
A photograph of the species Carex laxiflora, not of this specimenCarex laxiflora Lam.1840Thomas NuttallCambridge.
A photograph of the species Carex vestita, not of this specimenCarex vestita Willd.1840Thomas NuttallCambridge.
A photograph of the species Mycobilimbia hypnorum, not of this specimenMycobilimbia hypnorum (Lib.) Kalb & Hafellner1848E. Tuckerman
A photograph of the species Tamias striatus, not of this specimenTamias striatus lysteri (Richardson, 1829)1848L AgassizPARSONS ISLAND
A photograph of the species Cladonia cornucopioides, not of this specimenCladonia cornucopioides F.Wilson1850J. L. RussellLeicester
A photograph of the species Geranium maculatum, not of this specimenGeranium maculatum L.1850not recorded
A photograph of the species Packera aurea, not of this specimenPackera aurea (L.) Á.Löve & D.Löve1850not recorded
Elymus repens (L.) Gould1892Arthur B. SeymourCambridge.
Festuca pratensis Huds.1892Arthur B. SeymourCambridge.

All 1,628 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries nearby

10 of 11 shown

The federal mineral resources record lists 11 workings within 5 miles of Westwood Hills: 7 past producers, 3 producers, 1 plant. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Lead, 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
Bd Bloomfield Co--Worcester, Ma.LeadPlant
Shrewsbury Trap RockStoneProducer
30 Southwest Cutoff PlantSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Capa CorporationSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Elmwood Street PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
F Ang G Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
F and G PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Sewall PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Shrewsbury PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Town of BoylstonSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary

Every working recorded in Worcester County

Storms nearby

14 since 2008

The National Weather Service names Westwood Hills in 14 storm reports between 2008 and 2023: 8 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 2 flood, 1 lightning. The reports record 1 death. 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
June 2008Thunderstorm WindWestwood Hills1 killedA woman out in her yard during a thunderstorm died after a large tree limb broke due to the wind and fell on her. Medical officials indicate that she died of blunt force trauma to the head, neck, and chest.
August 2014Flash FloodWestwood Hills$100,000Numerous streets in Worcester were flooded and impassable. Manhole covers popped on Park Avenue. A car was stuck in flood waters on southbound Route 146 at exit 12. Cars were flooded in a parking lot on Glennie Street near the W. B. Mason store.
October 2020Thunderstorm WindWestwood Hills$5,000In Worcester, numerous tree limbs were down across the city. On Beechmont Street, a tree limb fell onto a house. On Pleasant Street, a tree limb also fell onto a house. Other limbs were down on Brantwood Road, Main Street, Varnum Street, June Street, Maxwell Street, and Holly Terrace.
July 2021FloodWestwood Hills$4,000In Worcester, a basement was flooded 5 inches deep at 7 Cardinal Road.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindWestwood Hills$3,500In Worcester, a telephone pole was snapped due to a tree falling on wires on Aylesbury St. A tree was down on Edgeworth St.
August 2019LightningWestwood Hills$3,000In the Westwood Hills section of Worcester, a house was struck by lightning. The chimney was blown off and there was damage to eight rafters.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindWestwood Hills$2,300In Worcester, trees were down on Goddard Drive, Scandinavia Avenue, and Lovell Street. |A tree was down on a house at Ludlow and Main Street. Power lines were down on Boston Avenue.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindWestwood Hills$1,300In Worcester, trees and wires were down on Havelock Road.
September 2021Flash FloodWestwood Hills$1,000In Worcester, numerous roads were closed due to flooding, especially on the west and south sides of the city. At 155 AM EDT (1255 AM EST), Cambridge Street was flooded and impassable. At 211 AM EDT, Merrick Street at Pelham Street was closed due to flooding. At 230 AM EDT, parts of Southbridge Street and parts of Quinsigamond Avenue were closed due to flooding. At 318 AM EDT, a car was stuck in flooded waters at the intersection of Cambridge Street and Kansas Street.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindWestwood Hills$500In Worcester there was a tree down blocking Cardinal Rd.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindWestwood Hills$500In Worcester there was a tree down on Butternut Hill.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindWestwood Hills$500In Worcester, there was a tree down on Chandler St.
August 2020FloodWestwood Hills-In Worcester, there was 3-4 ft of street flooding on Pleasant St, possibly from clogged drainage.
June 2008Flash FloodWestwood Hills-Heavy rain resulted in flash flooding that closed several streets in Worcester. Some of these include: Cambridge Street, Southbridge Street, and the intersection of Dewey and Parker Streets where 3 feet of water collected. A foot of water was reported in front of the police station on Oxford Street North.

Every storm recorded in Worcester 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
Hammond Heights0.6 miles45
June Street0.7 miles45
Beaver Brook1.0 miles45
Tatnuck1.2 miles45
Chadwick Square1.3 miles45
Mill Street1.4 miles45
Salisbury Heights1.4 miles45
Northville (historical)1.5 miles45

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 610582. 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.