Roxbury (MA)

Roxbury
Neighborhood of Boston
First Church of Roxbury
Seal
Motto: Saxetum Dextris Deoque Confidens (Latin) "[In this] rocky borough, by God's right, we are confident"
Settled	1630
Incorporated	1846
Annexed by Boston	1868
Time zone	Eastern
• Summer (DST)	Eastern (UTC)
Zip Code	02119
Area code(s)	617 / 857

Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and a currently officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. Roxbury is one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston, used by the city for neighborhood services coordination. The city asserts that it "serves as the heart of Black culture in Boston." Roxbury was one of the first towns founded in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, and became a city in 1846 until annexed to Boston on January 5, 1868.

The original boundaries of the Town of Roxbury can be found in Drake's History of Roxbury and its noted Personages. Those boundaries include the Christian Science Center, the Prudential Center (built on the old Roxbury Railroad Yards) and everything south and east of the Muddy River including Symphony Hall, Northeastern University, Boston Latin School, Madison Park Technical Vocational High School John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics & Science, Roxbury Community College Y.M.C.A., Harvard Medical School and many hospitals and schools in the area. This side of the Muddy River is Roxbury, the other side is Brookline and Boston. Franklin Park, once entirely within Roxbury when Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury and Roslindale were villages within the town of Roxbury until 1854, has been divided with the line between Jamaica Plain and Roxbury located in the vicinity of Peter Parley Road on Walnut Avenue, through the park to Columbia Road. Here, Walnut Avenue changes its name to Sigourney Street, indicating the area is now Jamaica Plain. One side of Columbia Road is Roxbury, the other Dorchester. Melnea Cass Boulevard is located approximately over the Roxbury Canal that brought boats into Roxbury, bypassing the busy port of Boston in the 1830s.