BlockBefore

Wyoming, Massachusetts

46 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1893 and the latest in 1989. It stands in Melrose City. It lies in ZIP code area 02176. It lies near Melrose Rock. The Survey maps it on the Boston North quadrangle.

Wyoming within Middlesex 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 Wyoming, surveyed 1989
Topographic sheet of Wyoming, surveyed 1893

On record in Wyoming

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 7 records

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

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

25,771 words on this township

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880 names this settlement in its chapter on Melrose City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Melrose contains a superficial area of about 2,900 square acres, 2,7;iO of which are taxable. It is two and one eighth miles in length, and has an average width of two miles. It is bounded on the north by Wakefield, on the east by Saugus, on the south by Maiden, and on the west by Stoneham and a corner of Medford. It has four villages : Wyoming, at the south part of the town ; tiie Centre ; the Highlands, at the north ; and Norrisville, in the northeastern part. Its surface is charmhigly diversified with hill, valley, pond, and stream. From the summits of a number of its elevations - particularly Boston Rock in the south, Barrett's Mount in the centre, and West Rock, or Vinton Hill, in the north - extensive views of the surrounding country and of the ocean may be had. L Pond, situated in the centre of the town, so named from its shape, contains about thirty acres, and upon its borders are many of the finest residences. This pond received its name as early as 1638, nine years after the settlement of Charlestown, in whose records it is then mentioned ; and it was so called in manv other earlv documents.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

Thomas and Beiioui Vinton, direct descendants of John Vinton, of Lynn, who came to this country not far from 164:3, settled in that part of Melrose called the Highlands, then a part of Stoneham, about the year 1742. Thomas left three sons, Thomas, Timothy, and Ezra, all of whom had farms at the Highlands ; the old homesteads are yet standing. These three brothers joined Captain Sprague's company of minute-men which iiiinrlicd from Stoneham, to Lexington when the ricxolutionary alarm was sounded. During the latter part of the eighteenth century a number of other families came to Melrose, among them the Howards, the Emersons, Pratts, Grovers, Edmundses, Larrabees, Boardmans, Hemenways, Tainters, Goulds, Coxes, Eatons, and FuUers.i

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

At a session of the General Court held Septeui- | ber 10, 1653, a committee of three, Thomas Marshall, John Smith, and John Sprague, was " chosen to lay out the country high way between Reddinge and Winnesemett." This was the first and only road through Melrose for many years. The various bounds were given by the committee, beginning at Reading, until it reached Melrose, and then they say it is to run " along on the east side of Thomas Coytmores lott, by Ele Pond, in the old way, to Thomas Lynds land, then through the first field, and so by the field by his howse, from thence, on the old way, by Maldou meeting howse, through the stony broade in good grounde, and six or eight where need rec]uires." " The old way " here referred to means the old, crooked Indian path, or trail, in use before this date, winding hither and thither, going around this hill, shuiniing that swamp or bog, and over which the early traveller wended his way between Reading and Chelsea. On a plan of Maiden surveyed by Peter Tufts, Jr., of Medford, in 1795, the only roads laid down in what was then North Maiden are the main road, called the Reading road, and a Stoneham road, which leaves this near the corner of what are now Wyoming Avenue and Main Street, where stands the Masonic Hall. There is one essential change between the main road as laid out in 1653 and that on this plan; it then went to the right of Boston Rock, in going north from Maiden, and at the time the plan was made it passed to the left. The old-time residents of North Maiden had to wend their way down this old road to " middle-town " whenever they attended divine worship, or when they wished to vote on electiondays, or take part in any of the town-meetings. The present :\Iain Street was built in 1806. A short time previous to this, in 1798, a two-horse stage, the first public conveyance through Melrose, commenced running between Boston and Reading, driven by Mr. Parwell Brown ; and after the new road was built stage lines between Boston, Andover, and Haverhill were established, which .also carried the mails.

Passage source: History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, published 1880.

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 Melrose City - it names this place 5 more 5 times.

Fires near this place

125 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 125 fires within 5 miles of Wyoming between 2003 and 2020, burning about 211 acres in total. None started naturally. 31 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
Arson/incendiarism31
Missing data/not specified/undetermined26
Recreation and ceremony25
Debris and open burning19
Smoking14
Misuse of fire by a minor5
Equipment and vehicle use3
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Fireworks1

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
4 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
3 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
28 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
25 September 2015Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlSAUGUS
23 September 2020Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
23 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
22 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 1,294 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,294 specimens collected within 10 miles of Wyoming between 1898 and 1975: 500 Animalia, 456 Plantae, 289 Fungi, 17 Bacteria, 15 Protozoa, 9 Chromista, 8 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A B Seymour, A B. Proper 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 Trientalis borealis Raf.Trientalis borealis Raf.1900A. P. Chute
Aglaospora profusa (Fr.) De Not.1898Collector unspecified
A photograph of the species Bulbostylis capillaris, not of this specimenBulbostylis capillaris var. crebra Fernald1898C. H. KnowltonBoston.
A photograph of the species Cantharellus infundibuliformis, not of this specimenCantharellus infundibuliformis (Scop.) Fr.1898not recordedMelrose.
A photograph of the species Cladonia coccifera, not of this specimenCladonia coccifera (L.) Willd.1898Francis P DanielsCambridge
A photograph of the species Cladonia rangiferina, not of this specimenCladonia rangiferina (L.) Weber1898Francis P DanielsArlington Heights
A photograph of the species Cordyceps capitata, not of this specimenCordyceps capitata (Holmsk.) Link1898Conant, [?] F.Middlesex Fells
A photograph of the species Ctenidium malacodes, not of this specimenCtenidium malacodes Mitt.1898not recorded
A photograph of the species Cucurbitaria elongata, not of this specimenCucurbitaria elongata (Fr.) Grev.1898J. G. Hall
A photograph of the species Acer carpinifolium, not of this specimenAcer carpinifolium Siebold & Zucc.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
A photograph of the species Acer palmatum, not of this specimenAcer palmatum var. dissectum (Thunb.) Miq.1900A. K. HarrisonHarvard Botanic Garden, Cambridge.
A photograph of the species Alnus incana, not of this specimenAlnus incana subsp. rugosa (Du Roi) R.T.Clausen1900J. Murdoch, Jr.Roxbury

All 1,294 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 13 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Wyoming: 5 past producers, 4 plants, 3 producers, 1 unknown. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Silica, Copper, Lead, Peat. 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
(Facility) Vulcan Smelter--Chelsea, Ma.Copper, LeadPlant
Austin Hastings--Woburn, Ma.IronPlant
Kay Locke Inc PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Mahoney:S Rocky LedgePeatPast ProducerPeat
Rocky Ledge PitClayPast Producer
Ferro Ceramic Grinding--WakefieldSilicaPlant
Syncor Prdts Co--Malden, Ma.SilicaPlant
Malden QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenUnknown
Malden QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Richardson QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Middlesex 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
Melrose0.3 miles46
Fells0.9 miles46
Melrose Highlands1.2 miles46
Oak Grove1.4 miles46
Haywardville1.4 miles46
Maplewood1.6 miles46
Malden Highlands1.8 miles46
Faulkner1.9 miles46

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 612857. 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.