Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Roxbury

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Roxbury

Roxbury dates to 1812, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Buckminster-Kingsbury Farm. Below: old-book passages.

1812founded
1on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
3famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Roxbury began

When was Roxbury founded?

1812

Roxbury dates its founding to 1812 (Wikidata). Its post office opened in 1829.

2020 census: 220214 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1829.The full story ↓

What stands out about Roxbury’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 Roxbury are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsEstablished in 1812: 214 years of Roxbury.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Roxbury’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Roxbury’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
Timeline

Roxbury, 1811 to 1857

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1811Born hereCyrus Wakefield is born here
  3. 1812
    FoundingRoxbury is established
  4. 1816Born hereJoseph Alexander Ames is born here
  5. 1826Born hereNathan Ames is born here
  6. 1829Post officeThe Roxbury post office opens
  7. 1857Post officeThe Roxbury post office closes
The story

How Roxbury came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Roxbury.

Read it all →

The smallest town in Cheshire County, Roxbury was incorporated in 1812 from portions of Nelson, Marlborough, and Keene. By then, settlers had established agriculture among the rolling hillsides in the area, and a community had developed at what is now called Roxbury Center. It was a "hill farm" community with some scattered small mills. Roxbury's granite quarries, among the most extensive in the Granite State at the time, provided some of the stone for the capitol building of New York in Albany.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Roxbury in 1881

Passages that mention Roxbury, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Besides the present District No. 1, it contained all of that part of the town which was set off in 1812, as a portion of the new town of Roxbury. The following is a list of those who composed that district in 1794: — Bartholomew Grimes. David Wilkinson.
History of the town of Marlborough, Cheshire County, New Hampshire1881 · page 147Read the page →
Read the text

Besides the present District No. 1, it contained all of that part of the town which was set off in 1812, as a portion of the new town of Roxbury. The following is a list of those who composed that district in 1794: — Bartholomew Grimes. David Wilkinson.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
was a sister of Nathaniel Furber, a potter who resided for some time in this town and Dublin. Mr. Fifield came to Marl, previous to 1800, and settled in that part of Roxbury set off from Marlboro', being the first settler on what is known as the "old Fifield place." He d. July 22, 1840. His widow d…
History of the town of Marlborough, Cheshire County, New Hampshire1881 · page 485Read the page →
Read the text

was a sister of Nathaniel Furber, a potter who resided for some time in this town and Dublin. Mr. Fifield came to Marl, previous to 1800, and settled in that part of Roxbury set off from Marlboro', being the first settler on what is known as the "old Fifield place." He d. July 22, 1840. His widow d. in 1855.

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.

By decade

Roxbury, decade by decade

Today2 recent
RoxburyNH BuckminsterKingsburyFarm22016RoxburyNH BuckminsterKingsburyFarm2RoxburyNH BuckminsterKingsburyFarm12016RoxburyNH BuckminsterKingsburyFarm1
On the National Register

1 historic place in Roxbury

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
2011
Buckminster-Kingsbury Farm
Buckminster-Kingsbury Farm
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Federal1
Buckminster-Kingsbury FarmFederal

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

3 famous people were born in Roxbury

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Joseph Alexander AmesAmerican artist · b. 1816
N
Nathan AmesAmerican poet · b. 1826
C
Cyrus WakefieldAmerican businessman · b. 1811
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Roxbury had its own post office from 1829 to 1857.

Roxbury
1829–1857
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Roxbury Center

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Keene17 historic placesA+Harrisville31 historic placesA+MarlboroughIts storyB+Nelson1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Roxbury’s history

What year was Roxbury founded?

In 1812, according to Wikidata. Roxbury’s post office opened in 1829.

What is on the National Register in Roxbury?

One place: the Buckminster-Kingsbury Farm (listed 2011).

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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 (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.