Foxton, New Zealand
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Foxton is a town in the North Island of New Zealand. The 2001 census population was 4617.
The town is in the Horowhenua region, 30 kilometres southwest of Palmerston North and 15 kilometres north of Levin. The town is located close to the banks of the Manawatu River. The small coastal settlement of Foxton Beach is located six kilometres to the west, close to the river's mouth.
Foxton was named after Sir William Fox, and has a history of flax stripping, which was used to make rope, baskets and other tools. Other industries associated with the town have included clothing manufacture and sawmilling. There is now a large Dutch windmill that makes stone-ground flour.
Foxton is the oldest settlement in the southern Manawatu, although it was not always sited where it currently is. The original site of the town was to the east, closer to the present town of Shannon in 1842. The town was moved to its present site in 1885. In the early years of European settlement it was an important trading post and it was only with the advent of the Palmerston North-Wellington railway that Palmerston North began to overtake it as the most important centre in the Manawatu.