Historical Maps

A series of maps in the same format allows one to determine in what year a particular change occurred. Searching for minor changes in adjacent years is challenging, and fun.  Bring up this page in two side-by-side windows, and then zoom in on areas of interest in each window.

Small changes are hard to find. Maps which appeared to be identical in the original maps, in Franklin county, are combined here.

The face of Franklin County, Massachusetts has changed greatly since the 1920's.  The most striking  change is the appearance of Quabbin Reservoir.  Flooding of the Swift River valley began in 1939 and was completed in 1946.  The towns of Dana, Greenwich, Prescott and Enfield were completely inundated. 

Between 1954 and 1961, State Route 2 and U.S. Route 202 were rerouted to avoid Orange and Athol.

During 1955, a Route 2 bypass was constructed around Shelburne Falls.

Interstate Highway I-91 runs 290 miles, from New Haven, Connecticut to the Canadian border.   The Franklin County portion of I-91 was constructed during the 1960's.

1925	1926	1927	1928	1929	1930
1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	not available 1936
not available 1937	1938	1939	1940	1941	1942-1946
1947-1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954
1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960-1961
1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967-1968
1969-1971	1972	1973	1974	1975-1976	1977
1978-1979	1980-1981	1982-1983	1984-1986	1987	1988-1991
1992-1997	1998-2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010

Map Legend for 2010:

All maps copyright Rand McNally and Company.
This thumbnail page was generated by ThumbsPlus.

Some related links:

Franklin County Chamber of Commerce
Shelburne Falls Page, Shelburne Falls Area Business Association
Spend a Day in Shelburne Falls by Beverly Knox
Shelburne Historical Society
Bear Haven Bed and Breakfast, Shelburne Falls
Deane Merrill's Genealogy

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