History of Roxbury, Massachusetts, USA*

Roxbury, Massachusetts
Norfolk county. This town is joined to Boston by a neck of land, over which are broad and pleasant avenues. Between the centre of each town is about 3 miles. The surface is rocky and uneven, with a strong soil in a high state of cultivation. It displays a great degree of agricultural taste and skill, and abounds in country seats and pleasure grounds. That part of this town bordering on Jamaica pond, 4 miles S.W. from Boston, is exceedingly pleasant. This town and Boston were incorporated the same year, (1630;) and nothing but municipal regulations divide their interests and feelings. Population, 1810, 3,669; 1820, 4,135; 1830, 5,247; 1837, 7,493.

The first hourly coach from Boston commenced running to this town in 1827. There are now a large number continually running between the two places, and not less than 250,000 persons pass annually. Since that time, others of a similar kind have been established to Charlestown, Cambridge, Dorchester, &c., and tend...

Roxbury, the largest town in Norfolk County, is the only town naturally united to Boston by land.

On a level tract, called Jamaica Plain, is a beautiful pond, about four miles from Boston centre, from which many families in Boston are supplied with fresh water, by means of an aqueduct of logs and iron pipes under ground.

The first minister of Roxbury was John Eliot, so distinguished as a missionary among the neighboring Indians that he was called the Apostle.

General Joseph Warren, who was killed at Bunker Hill, was born here in 1740, and his mansion is still standing in Warren Street. William Heath, also a General in the Army of the Revolution, was a citizen of Roxbury.

Roxbury was the birth-place of Governors Thomas Dudley,Joseph Dudley, and Increase Sumner, and the residences of Governors Shirley, and Eustis.

Its vicinity to the metropolis causes it to be highly cultivated, and
rapidly to increase in population.

Distance from Dedham, 7 miles ; from Boston,...

Roxbury, a beautiful city of Norfolk county, Massachusetts, 8 miles S. from Boston, with which it is connected by what is termed "Boston Neck." Leading over this neck are three broad avenues, which are traversed by numerous lines of stages plying between the two cities. Much of the site now occupied by Roxbury was originally rocky and very irregular, but of late has been greatly improved. Portions of it are quite elevated, affording fine views of Boston and the surrounding scenery. It would perhaps be difficult to find concentrated in any city of equal extent such a diversity of surface, or so many elements of the picturesque. The private edifices, all of which are neat, and some very elegant, are, for the most part, enclosed by spacious grounds adorned with flower gardens and a profusion of shrubbery ; indeed, few places have been more improved by the horticulturist. For several years past the city has been very flourishing, owing in part to its having become a favorite place of...

Roxbury was incorporated as a town September 28, 1630; as a city March 12, 1846; and was annexed to Boston June 1, 1867.