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History · Roxie

Roxie’s post office opened in 1885

Most of Roxie was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: maps from 1962 on and the census since 1900.

1885first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Tim Fuller · CC BY 2.0
Quick answers

How Roxie began

When was Roxie founded?

1885

The Roxie post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 214 in 19002020 census: 469141 years
Founding year: the first Roxie post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Roxie’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Roxie are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 662 in 1970; 469 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Roxie’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Roxie’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Roxie, census by census

01002003004005006007001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 662

Peaked at 662 in 1970; 469 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Roxie’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Roxie came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Roxie.

Read it all →

Roxie was founded in 1886 on a plot of farmland donated by John Quincy Adams Graves, who was the County Supervisor and a former soldier in the Regimental Band of the 4th Volunteer Mississippi Regiment during the Civil War. The town was named in honor of Graves' newborn daughter.

The town was located at the crossroads of the Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway and the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad. Most of the early residents were employed by the railroads or worked in the logging industry and sawmills.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Roxie, 1885 to 1970

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1885Post officeThe Roxie post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1908Born hereRichard Wright is born here
  5. 1962On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1970CensusPopulation peaks at 662
By decade

Roxie, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Downtown2005Downtown
On the map

Roxie on the map, 1962 to 2000

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Roxie. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Roxie on the 1962 USGS mapRoxie on the 1988 USGS mapRoxie on the 2000 USGS map1962Fayette sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Roxie.

Questions about Roxie’s history

What year was Roxie founded?

The Roxie post office opened in 1885, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.