[6] In 1792, after the government of Lower Canada started making districts from the lands south of the Saint Laurence and east of the Richelieu River, the area of Roxton was supposedly named after Roxton, Bedfordshire in England.

The sawmill was powered by the energy of the falls, and was built in the same location as the Shaw Tannery.

Because of the water falls, hydro-electric powerplants where installed on the river under the supervision of "The Roxton Electric Light & Power Co." in the 1920s.

The sawmill ran thanks to the power of the water falls, which was enhanced in the 1920s by wood dams.

The remains of the dam, as well as some of the equipment from the sawmill, can be seen from the Larivière Parc, which was constructed on the same site as the old mill.