Monadnock Moment No. 119

Multi Era 4 - 9: 1812 to 1960s

The Village that Disappeared

The town of Roxbury near the center of Cheshire County is one of the smallest in size and has been among the smallest in population in the region. This small section of the county is hilly and isolated from the town centers of the surrounding communities. As a result, the residents of the area applied for incorporation as a separate town in 1812, and Roxbury was formed from parts of the towns of Keene, Nelson and Marlborough.

A church was built and a village grew up around it. Roxbury Center village became the home of a tavern, store, blacksmith shop, and center school. Several homes, a parsonage, and the Roxbury post office was also located in the neighborhood. Many of the residents were farmers, but there was a sawmill down the hill and a granite quarry just down the road. By 1820 the population had grown to 366.

By the middle of the 19th century, however, the town had begun to decline. The population dropped to 260 by 1850 and 126 by 1880. The younger generations found that the rocky land was not suited for farming and many young men moved west to find richer soil. Because of the isolation, which had brought the village into being, large scale industry was not practical. The former tavern was moved to Marlborough in the 1890s, homes were removed or disappeared, and the school was no longer used. The little church in the heart of the village survived the longest. It finally stood alone in a small clearing where the village had previously been. Finally, in a state of disrepair, the church itself was removed in the 1960s and the village of Roxbury disappeared from the maps, but not from the memories from those who had known it.