Maps and atlases, mostly focused on Westborough and its surrounding areas.
Official collection name: Westborough Map Collection
Location: 2 map case drawers, double oversize atlases (in the wooden bookcase), Roll Boxes, library walls, and online
Local identifier: LH.012
Creator: Westborough Public Library
Date: Undetermined
Extent: 8 linear feet (double oversize and 4 Roll Boxes) + Map case
Subject: Maps–Westborough (Mass.)
Online access:
- Digital Commonwealth: https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/collections/commonwealth:pc28bm58m
- Westborough Digital Repository: https://westboroughdigitalrepository.omeka.net/collections/show/8
Finding aid: LH012 – Westborough Map Collection
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Westborough Map Collection, 1717-2001: Finding Aid
Last Revised: December 16, 2019
Collection Summary
Collection number: LH.012
Location: Map case, double oversize (in the wooden bookcase), Roll Boxes, library walls, and online
Collection title: Westborough Map Collection, 1717-2001
Dates: 1717-2001
Size: 8 linear feet (double oversize and 4 Roll Boxes) + Map case
Creator/Collector: Westborough Public Library
Acquisitions info.: Created by various acquisitions and donations to the Westborough Public Library.
Language(s): English
Repository: The Westborough Public Library
Processed by: Anthony T. Vaver with the assistance of R. Christopher Noonan, 2017
Rights and Access
Access restrictions: Collection is open for research
Physical access restrictions: None, although researchers are encouraged to use any available digital images from the collection
Publication rights: Most of the records are in the public domain, although users of the collection must make their own determination regarding copyright. See the Local History Librarian for help.
Organizational History
The Town of Westborough was incorporated as the hundredth town in Massachusetts on November 8, 1717, with twenty-seven families living within its borders. Before the official founding of the town, several families had settled around Lake Chauncy, and this area had become known as the “west borough” of Marlborough. In 1775, the “north borough” of Westborough split off from the town to become Northborough.
Today, Westborough retains many elements of its economic development in its architecture and land use, with working farms, repurposed industrial and mercantile buildings from the nineteenth century, and corporate office space.
Scope and Content Note
The earliest maps in the collection are copies of originals. Most of the original maps are from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and can be used to trace the development of Westborough from its early industrial history through to its present state as a modern town with strong links to the past. In addition to “standard” maps and atlases that show streets and sometimes houses in town, the collection includes zoning and planning, environmental, topographical, and transportation maps, all of which provide various means of viewing Westborough’s geographic features. Maps from surrounding towns are limited, but one showing Northborough’s historic sites shows the outline of the old boundary lines of Marlborough superimposed over the current “borough” towns.
Series Overview
Series I: Historical
Series II: Topographical
Series III: Commercial
Series IV: Zoning and Development
Series V: Transportation Planning
Series VI: Environmental Planning
Series VII: Surrounding Towns
Series VIII: Sanborn Maps
Series IX: Atlases
Collection Inventory
Series I: Historical
Location
Map Case
Drawer: Folder
1.01
- 2018 – Eastern Woodlands Nations: Traditional Names and Locations
- 2017 – Tribal Nations of Massachusetts
- 1717 – Copy of “A Plot of . . . Chancy as bounded and set off by ye Town of Marlborough to make a Precinct” (encapsulated, 14” x 17”)
- May 29, 1795 – Copy of a “plan of the Town of Westboro” (encapsulated, 14” x 17”)
- 1795 / April 22, 1898 – Copy of “A plan of the town of Westborough; Delineated by Nahum Fisher from the minutes taken by Col. N. Fisher at 1795” (encapsulated, 12’ x 18”)
1.02
- 1830 – Copy of “A Map of Westborough as Survey’d . . . by Nahum Fisher (15” x 18.5”)
- 1837 – Copy of “A Map of Westborough Surveyed by Nahum Fisher in 1830. With improvements made in 1837” (9.5” x 12.5”)
- 1837 – Copy of “A Map of Westborough Surveyed by Nahum Fisher in 1830. With improvements made in 1837” (18” x 24”)
- 1837 – Copy of “A Map of Westborough Surveyed by Nahum Fisher in 1830. With improvements made in 1837” (encapsulated, 19” x 25”)
Library wall (framed) and Online:
- 1855 – Map of the Town of Westboro, Richard Clark (framed, 43.5” x 46”; online: https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:pc28bm61x)
Map Case
Drawer: Folder
1.03
- 1870 – Westborough (13” x 16”)
- 1870 – Westborough (encapsulated, 13.5” x 16”)
- 1870 – Northborough – Westborough (encapsulated, 13.5” x 16”) – 2 copies
Library wall (framed), Roll Box 2, and Online:
- 1878 – Map of Westborough Mass., Geo. H. Walker (framed, 31.5” x 51”; online: https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:pc28bm59w)
Map Case
Drawer: Folder
1.04
- 1880 – Westboro, E. H. Bigelow (24” x 26.5”)
- 1891 – Map of Westborough, Geo. H. Walker (encapsulated, 20” x 24”)
- 1898 – Towns of Northborough, Westborough, Southborough, and Shrewsbury, Plate 3, from New Topographical Atlas of the County of Worcester, Massachusetts, L. J. Richards & Co. (encapsulated, 22” x 32”)
- 1898 – Westboro, Southville, Cordaville, Southboro, Plate 4, from New Topographical Atlas of the County of Worcester, Massachusetts, L. J. Richards & Co. (encapsulated, 22” x 32”)
- 1898 – Westboro, J. S. Gates (advertiser) (19” x 23”)
1.05
- 1953 – Town of Westboro Mass. (encapsulated, 9.5” x 14”)
- 1955 – Westboro State Hospital (encapsulated, 20” x 21”)
- 1963 – Town of Westborough – Mass., after Surveys of 1830 and Additional Data to 1963, Guerard Survey (encapsulated, 19” x 25”)
- 1986 (approximate) – Westborough (encapsulated, 11.5 x 16)
Series II: Topographical
Location
Map Case: Drawer: Folder
1.06
- 1953 – Marlboro Quadrangle, United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey (20” x 26”)
- 1953 – Shrewsbury Quadrangle, United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey (20” x 26”)
- 1953 – Grafton Quadrangle, United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey (20” x 26”)
- 1953 – Milford Quadrangle, United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey (20” x 26”)
1.07
- 1969 – Westborough (compiled map), United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey (22” x 27”)
- 1969 – Marlborough Quadrangle, United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey (22” x 27”)
- 1979 – Marlborough Quadrangle, United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey (22” x 27”)
- 1979 – Milford Quadrangle, United States Department of the Interior Geological Survey (22” x 27”)
Series III: Commercial
Location
Map Case: Drawer: Folder
2.01
- 1970 – 1979 (approximate) – Map of Northborough Westborough Massachusetts, Commonwealth Publishing (18.5” x 23)
- 1979 – Westborough, The Butterworth Company (17” x 22.5”)
- 1980 – 1989 (approximate) – Westboro (8.5” x 11”)
- 1989 – Westborough, Northborough, Southborough (22.5” x 33”)
2.02
- 1980 – 1999 (approximate) – Westborough, Grafton (11” x 17”)
- 1980 – 1999 (approximate) – Northborough, Westborough, Skyline Productions (11” x 17”)
- 1980 – 1999 (approximate) – Northboro, Westboro (14” x 21.5”)
- 1980 – 1999 (approximate) – Northboro, Westboro, J. M. Associates (14” x 21.5”)
- 1980 – 1999 (approximate) – Westboro, Grafton, Skyline Productions (14” x 22”)
2.03
- 1980 – 1999 (approximate) – Westboro, Grafton, Skyline Productions (14” x 21.5”)
- 1993 – Westboro (front), Northboro (back), Total Marketing Concepts (18.5” x 23”)
- 1997 – Northboro, Westboro, Jen Lie Associates (14” x 22”)
- November 1999 – Northboro, Westboro, Skyline Productions (11” x 17”)
- 2001 – Street Map of Westborough Massachusetts, The Map Guys (9.5” x 13”)
Series IV: Zoning and Development
Location
Roll Box 3
- January 8, 1931 – Proposed Development, Westborough Square (29” x 41”)
- 1950 – 1959 (approximate) – Westborough Center (24” x 48.5”)
Map Case
Drawer: Folder
2.04
- 1954 – Planning Board, Town of Westborough (19” x 24.5”)
- 1960 – Town of Westborough Mass, Zoning Map (9” x 11.5”)
- 1961 – Zoning Map, Town of Westborough (9” x 11.5”)
- 1966 – Zoning Map of the Town of Westborough, Massachusetts (18” x 24”)
Roll Box 3
- November 1975 – Town of Westborough, Prepared by the Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (42.5” x 55”)
Map Case
Drawer: Folder
2.04
- 1980 – Zoning Map, Town of Westborough (22” x 34”)
- 1985 – Zoning Map, Town of Westborough (24” x 32”)
Series V: Transportation Planning
Location
Map Case
Drawer: Folder
2.05
- October 1904 – Map of a portion of the Boston & Worcester Street Railway System (14” x 20”)
- March 1934 – Town of Westborough – Mass., Westborough Highway Dept. (19” x 24.5”)
Roll Box 1
- March 1934 – Town of Westboro – Mass., Plan of Village, Westboro Highway Dept. (24” x 36”)
- 1985 – Plan of “Downtown” Area in Westborough, Traffic Advisory Committee (24” x 63”)
Series VI: Environmental Planning
Location
Roll Box 4
- 1897 – Cedar Swamp and Whitehall Pond, Division B Sheet [?] (24.5” x 36”)
- 1897 – Cedar Swamp and Whitehall Pond, Division B Sheet 4 (32” x 40.5”)
- 1897 – Cedar Swamp and Whitehall Pond, Division B Sheet 5 (31” x 38”)
- 1897 – Cedar Swamp and Whitehall Pond, Division B Sheet 6 (32” x 37”)
- 1975 (inferred) – Town of Westborough, Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission (42.5” x 68”)
- 1975 – Environmentally Sensitive Areas, Town of Westborough (42.5” x 67.5”)
- 1975 (inferred) – Town of Westborough, Surface Hydrology, Central Massachusetts Regional Planning (42.5” x 68”)
- November 1975 – Flood Areas, Town of Westborough, Central Massachusetts Regional Planning (42.5” x 53”)
Series VII: Surrounding Towns
Location
Map Case
Drawer: Folder
2.06
- 1935 – Grafton, Massachusetts (encapsulated, 16” x 20.5”)
- 1966 – Northborough Historical Sites (encapsulated, 17.5” x 21.5”)
Series VIII: Sanborn Maps
Location
Double Oversize
- February 1904 – Insurance Maps of Westboro, Worcester County, Massachusetts, Sanborn Map Company
- January 1913 – Insurance Maps of Westboro, Worcester County, Massachusetts, Sanborn Map Company
- March 1925 – Insurance Maps of Westboro, Worcester County, Massachusetts, Sanborn Map Company
Series IX: Atlases
Location
Double Oversize
- 1870 – Atlas of Worcester County, Massachusetts, F. W. Beers & Co.
- 1891 – Atlas of Massachusetts, Geo. H. Walker & Co.
- 1898 – New Topographical Atlas of the County of Worcester, Massachusetts, L. J. Richards & Co. – 2 copies
- 1908 – Atlas of the Boundaries of the City of Worcester and Towns of . . . Westborough, Harbor and Land Commission, Commonwealth of Massachusetts