[1] Present day Oxford and the areas surrounding it were inhabited for thousands of years before European colonization.

Although archaeological sites exist in Central Massachusetts dating back to the Paleoindian period (12,000-9000 years before present) there are much more abundant archaeological remains starting in the period from 6500 to 3000 years before present, including an arrowhead identified in Oxford Massachusetts.

[2] An arrowhead collected at an archaeological site in Oxford has been radiocarbon dated to 2990 ± 155 years before present.

[3] To this end, out of unceded Nipmuc lands, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England created the praying town of Manchaug in the early 1670s, which included present day Oxford in its bounds.

[2] After King Philip's War, neighboring Chaubunagungamaug was the only inhabited Nipmuc praying town,[2] and in 1681-1682 the constable of Chaubunagungamaug, known as Black James, acting on behalf of the Nipmuc Praying Indians (though not their non-Christianized counterparts), signed a deed selling large tracts of land in the Chaubunagungamaug and Manchaug to investors including Joseph Dudley in Roxbury and Robert Thompson in London.

Oxford was first colonized intermittently by Europeans in 1687, with several breaks during the French and Indian Wars, and was officially incorporated in 1713.

In 1687, Robert Thompson arranged for a group of 52 French Huguenots he had connected with in London to colonize the land recently purchased from Black James.

The original settlement was abandoned after four residents (John Johnson and his three children, Peter, Andrew and Mary) were killed in a violent confrontation with local Native Americans.

A substantial parcel north and west of Oxford Center is held, for flood control purposes, by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Other towns bordering Oxford are Charlton to the west, Leicester and Auburn to the north, Millbury and Sutton to the east, and Douglas to the southeast.

Oxford High School has a number of sports activities throughout the fall, winter and spring seasons.