Oxford Main Street Historic District

Oxford Center is the historic core of Oxford, a farming and industrial town in southern Worcester County, about 50 miles southwest of Boston. This district covers roughly 95 acres along Main Street, with side streets to the west, and includes 223 contributing resources. Main Street keeps its broad historic width, sidewalks, mature trees and deep building setbacks. Civic landmarks include the 1873 Victorian Gothic Town Hall and the 1903 Classical Revival Charles Larned Memorial Library, built of pink granite and yellow brick. Joslin Park holds a bandstand, war memorials and a relocated 19th-century schoolhouse. South Cemetery contains gravestones dating from 1761, some attributed to regional carvers. Substantial 19th-century houses line the street, reflecting its role as higher-income residential area. The district was recognized as the greatest concentration of intact historic properties and landscape features associated with the town's civic, commercial and residential development from the early 19th to mid-20th century.