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Photograph of Common Historic District
Photograph by John Phelan, CC BY 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Common Historic District

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. 18 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1886.

From the record

One of 1,353 National Register listings published here for Middlesex County · listed in 1985 · category: District.

Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

  • Address. Roughly bounded by Main, Highland, and Federal Sts., Reading
  • When was it listed? February 1985
  • Category. district
  • Also known as. Reading MRA
  • National Register reference number. 85000548 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

64 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 64 fires within 5 miles of Common Historic District between 2003 and 2020, burning about 26 acres in total. None started naturally. 3 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 burning18
Recreation and ceremony16
Missing data/not specified/undetermined11
Smoking5
Equipment and vehicle use4
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Arson/incendiarism3
Power generation/transmission/distribution2
Railroad operations and maintenance1

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
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
15 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlLYNNFIELD
4 August 2015Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlAMESBURY
31 August 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named
30 August 2016Smokingunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire ControlLYNNFIELD
26 August 2017Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Every fire recorded in Middlesex County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 18 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 18 workings within 5 miles of Common Historic District: 10 past producers, 5 producers, 2 plants, 1 unknown. 7 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Iron, Titanium, Metal. 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
Austin Hastings--Woburn, Ma.IronPlant
Ferro Ceramic Grinding--WakefieldSilicaPlant
Heffron Asphalt Co--Wilmington, Ma.TitaniumPast Producer
Heffron Asphalt CorpTitanium, MetalPast Producer
Marlborough Plant/Polishing PlatesStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
North Wilmington QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Richardson QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Roma Stone PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Warren Manter Co IncStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Acme Concrete Co. PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Middlesex County

Maps showing this location

18 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Rev. Peter Sanborn Houseunder 500 feet1984
Alden Batchelder House0.1 miles1984
Washington Damon House0.2 miles1984
House at 57 Woburn Street0.2 miles1984
Parker House0.2 miles1984
Parker House0.2 miles1984

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 85000548 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Middlesex CountyAll 1353 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • 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.
  • 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.