Around Oxford - Postcard History Author:Joseph A. Lordi, Dolores I. Rowe Around Oxford features vintage postcards and photographs from Oxford and the surrounding area, including Lincoln Universitythe oldest African American institution of higher learning in Americaand Nottingham. With the arrival of the Philadelphia-to-Baltimore railroad in 1860, Oxford began to grow and prosper. Because the area is one of the mo... more »st fertile regions of Pennsylvania, it became a major agricultural center. Along with carriage and candy making, the surrounding area produced important industries, including chrome and magnesium mining, pottery making, and the quarrying of limestone.« less