Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns · #114 of 155 in Connecticut. What drives it
Most of Oxford was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. 2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 19 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1889 on, and the census since 1820.
Oxford dates its founding to 1738 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1820.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Oxford is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #114 of 155 in Connecticut. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Connecticut towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Connecticut town has 73.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Oxford’s 14.6 sits below most of its state (19% of Connecticut towns have fewer) while its 19 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Oxford’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1820 and 1890, then grew more than tenfold.
19 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Oxford’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Oxford. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Oxford.
From Wikipedia’s history of Oxford.
In the 18th century, farmers herded livestock through Oxford from as far away as Litchfield on the way to the port of New Haven. In the 19th century, the town lost population as farmers moved to work in better-paying factories.
Oxford was incorporated in October 1798. The town is named after Oxford, in England.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Oxford, cut from the printed page as they were published.
" Voted to request the Gen' Assembly that in case they should incorporate the parish of South Britain, Southbury, and part of Oxford parish into a sepirate town, or the parish of Bethlehem, or the parish of Koxbury, that they would order and decree that each inhabitant, that has land lying in the bounds of Woodbury, as the bounds now are, shall put all his lands into the list In that town where the owner shall reside after such Incorporation.'' * This petition was granted at the May session of the General Assembly, lj787 ; and the town incorporated by the name of South-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
He began business as a lawyer in the young village of Oxford, Chenango Co., where be drew his first law draft " on the head of a barrel, under a roof made of poles, and in the rain, which was partly kept from spattering the paper by a broad-brimmed hat."
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
line for the society in Oct. The two houses disagreed, and a new committee was appointed, who recommended the same bounds. Their report was accepted and apjDroved, and the society incorporated, May, 1741, by the name of Oxford. In the same year, (174:1,) Oxford parish voted to build a meeting house, and petitioned the Assembly to send a committee to designate the place for setting it. The request was complied with, and the place selected was the south end of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereOrson Hyde is born here
Born hereJohn Lyman Chatfield is born here
Born hereOscar Harger is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archivePleasant Vale Schoolhouse
BuiltStevenson Dam Hydroelectric Plant is built
Born hereDanny Aiken is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2023Larkin State Park Trail
2023Larkin State Park Trail cut
2021Stevenson Tainter Gate
2018Southford Falls I
2017OxfordCT WoosterMill2
2017OxfordCT WoosterMill1
2013Lake Zoar - panoramio (1)
2013Bridal Trail Bog
2013Bridal Trail
2012New Haven Rowing Club house 149
2010Oxford CT lg
2010Lake Zoar September 2010
2009Connecticut Town History Sign
2007Looking Southeast from Jackson's Cove
2006US-CT-Oxford
2006OxfordCT ChristEpiscopalChurchNo then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Oxford’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Oxford had its own post office from 1807 to 1903. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1738, according to Wikidata. Oxford’s post office opened in 1807, and the census of 1820 counted 1,683 people here.
Oxford is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #114 of 155 in Connecticut. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Two places: the Quaker Farms Historic District (listed 1991) and the Stevenson Dam Hydroelectric Plant (2000).
9% of Oxford’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.5 points), against a typical 15% for a Connecticut town; the median home was built in 1986.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (16), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
