Place:Foxborough, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States

Watchers


NameFoxborough
Alt namesFoxborosource: Wikipedia
Foxborough Centresource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS25004939
TypeTown
Coordinates42.05°N 71.25°W
Located inNorfolk, Massachusetts, United States
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Foxborough is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, about southwest of Boston, northeast of Providence, Rhode Island and about northwest of Cape Cod. Foxborough is part of the Greater Boston area. The population was 18,618 at the 2020 census.

"Foxborough" is the official spelling of the town name, although the alternative spelling "Foxboro" is also frequently used. This alternative spelling is used by the United States Postal Service as the correct form by which to address mail to recipients in the town, although both can be processed by their system. The sign on the post office reads "Foxboro".

Foxborough is best known as the site of Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL) and the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer (MLS).

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Settled in 1704 and incorporated in 1778, the town of Foxborough was named for Charles James Fox, a Whig member of Parliament and a staunch supporter of the Colonies in the years leading up to the American Revolution.

The town was once home to the world's largest straw hat factory. Founded by local businessman E.P. Carpenter, the Union Straw Works burned to the ground in the early 20th century. The town post office now stands on the site.

Foxborough was composed of small neighborhood communities until the early 1900s. These included Foxvale/Paineburgh, which remained semi-independent until the early twentieth century; Quaker Hill in South Foxborough; and Lakeview/Donkeyville in West Foxborough.

Schaefer Stadium (later known as Sullivan Stadium, then Foxboro Stadium) opened in 1971 as the home of the New England Patriots, after the football team spent its first eleven seasons playing at various stadiums in Boston. The family of Billy Sullivan owned both the Patriots and the stadium until they sold the team in 1988. The stadium, however, lapsed into bankruptcy and was then bought by paper magnate Robert Kraft. With Kraft in control of Foxboro Stadium, he prevented the Patriots from relocating to St. Louis in 1994 by refusing to let the team break their lease, then bought the Patriots outright. Kraft then founded the New England Revolution, one of the charter clubs of Major League Soccer, in 1996.

Gillette Stadium opened in 2002 as a replacement for Foxboro Stadium. The Patriot Place shopping plaza, built on land surrounding the stadium bought by Kraft, completed construction in 2009. The plaza includes a variety of restaurants, clothing stores, and other retailers.

Research Tips


This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Foxborough, Massachusetts. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.