(7) The society is dedicated to the discovery and preservation of documents, artifacts and historical images that inform of Newtown's evolution to the distinct community it has become today. Newtown Historical Society, Newtown, CT. 990 likes. Not until after World War II were the Irish finally accepted, according to Cruson.[3]. Settled from the town of Stratford and incorporated in 1711, Newtown was originally a stronghold for Tory sentiment during the Revolutionary War. Evelyn Beatrice Longman Commemorates the Working Class, Scrabble Copyrighted – Today in History: December 1, Over Time: Newtown’s Historical Population. The town flag pole, which remains a prominent landmark, was first erected in 1876. Newtown is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town of Newtown is located in Fairfield County in the southwestern portion of the state. “The Adams Family Collection,” 2017. Welcome to the Newtown, CT Vital Records Index Search Website. Matthew Curtiss House, Newtown– Daniel Sterner, HistoricBuildingsCT.com. Although primarily a farming community, Newtown saw local industry flourish in the 19th century and factories in town produced various items including buttons, combs, … Welcome to the Official Web Site for the Town of Newtown, CT. At one point, according to Jessup, the New York Belting and Packing rubber factory in town employed 200 people — 185 of whom were Irish. This property includes a mixture of buildings, religious structures, commercial spaces and residential area. Located in southwestern Connecticut in Fairfield County, Newtown is about sixty miles from New York City. The western half of Newtown (ZIP Code 06470) is one of the most affluent areas in Connecticut. Index to the Years 1852 to 1927 One sponsor of this program was the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society, which was a subsidiary of the Baron de Hirsch Fund. Public Safety. Center Contacts and Hours [edit | edit source]. By 1760 the town had seven school districts, including two in the village. (The districts were abolished in the 1920s, but their names have survived and are still use in designating various neighborhoods or areas of town. View listing photos, review sales history, and use our detailed real estate filters to find the perfect place. Zillow has 5 homes for sale in Newtown CT matching In Historic. Not only fireproof, it was furnished with cork floors and acoustic ceiling tiles to deaden sound, and had a built-in humidifying unit and a centralized vacuum cleaner. Public Safety Departments. The town of Newtown is located in Fairfield County in the southwestern portion of the state. The town experienced a big change with an influx of Irish immigrants, many of whom came through the area as railroad workers in the early 19th century and stayed to farm land abandoned by earlier farmers. [2], Button and comb production thrived until the late 19th century. The Newtown Historical Society is hosting an open house at its headquarters, the Matthew Curtiss House, on Sunday, May 19, from noon to 4 … Both buttons and combs were made from the horns, bones and hooves of animals, all plentiful in an agricultural town. In 1912, the house was purchased by William A. Honan, Sr., who had just married Margaret Hayes of Sandy Hook. Report of births, marriages and deaths in the school districts of Newtown, 1847-1851 Family History Library The Barbour collection of Connecticut town vital records., Newtown 1711-1852, North Branford 1831-1854, North Haven 1786-1854 WorldCat Vital Records of Newtown, Connecticut - 1704-1850 American Ancestors All Boards & Commissions / A Guide to Becoming a Member of an Appointed. The Newtown Savings Bank was built on this spot in 1909. Although at least seven individuals had been given permission to settle in this area before this date, the 36 "petition proprietors" were really the first settlers of Newtown. As of the 2010 census, its population was 27,560. The Newtown Historical Society was founded to educate the public about the history of the villages that comprised Newtown Township in … Though he left most of the game (including the distribution of letters) unchanged, Brunot slightly rearranged the "premium" squares of the board and simplified the rules; he also changed the name of the game from "Criss-Crosswords" to "Scrabble", a real word which means "to grope frantically," and sold sets to, among other customers, Macy's department store, which created a demand for the game. In 1914, the first addition to the Newtown Plat was filed on August 6, creating 74 additional lots. Covering an area of 60.4 square miles, the Town is bordered on the south by Easton and Redding, on the north by Bridgewater and Southbury, on the east by … Animal Control; Emergency Communications Center “Map - Town of Newtown, Fairfield Co., Conn. (Petersen Collection).” Newtown, CT, ca 1868. 4-acre (16,000 m2) home lots were distributed in 1710 to proprietors, which then totaled 48 men. The Newtown Historical Society Local industry has included the manufacture of furniture, tea bags, combs, fire hose, folding boxes, buttons, and hats, as well as farming and mica and feldspar mining. [3], Tensions between the Yankees and Irish ran high. [1], The town's first settlers had a lot in common. Settled from the town of Stratford and incorporated in 1711, Newtown was originally a stronghold for Tory sentiment during the Revolutionary War. Beers, D.G. History Mary Elizabeth Hawley is Newtown’s beloved benefactor. Newtown's Booth Memorial public library was opened December 17, 1932 with a capacity for 25,000 volumes. The Newtown Historical Society The Newtown Historical Society is a group of individuals who share an interest in the history and early culture of Newtown. In the 1930s, some significant buildings and institutions were built in town. [1], In 1709, a "Town Plat" (essentially a planned design for the town's roads and properties) was established. "The Irish were very polarizing socially, religiously, and politically in town," said Daniel Cruson, the town historian, in a 2007 interview. In addition to the 4-acre (16,000 m2) plots for homes, land was given out for planting and grazing land. The history of Newtown really begins in 1708, when 36 men petition the colony's General Assembly for permission to settle a town in an area north of Stratford. [1], Their houses were built in the saltbox or Cape Cod cottage style and were 1½ or 2 stories high. [3], Most of the early Irish residents lived in the Sandy Hook and Walnut Tree Hill neighborhoods, as well as farms along Route 25 in the Botsford section of town. There were 20 by 1794. John F. Kennedy was in the White House, Fidel Castro had taken power in Cuba, and Lee Glover was in charge here in Newtown…of the parade that is. In the early 19th century, several small industries developed along the town's rivers, which supplied power to the water wheels of shops and mills. BE A PART OF HISTORY. Newtown Meeting House served as the town's Congregational Church for many years. Architect Philip Sutherland designed both the Edmond Town Hall and the Cyrenius H. Booth Library, both completed in the 1930s. Then a division was made for 4 acres (16,000 m2) for "pitch" — parcels for crop fields near the village. The town purchased the Fairfield Hills mental health hospital property and, as of 2007, was considering options for using the tract. In 1920 the old academy building, mysteriously caught fire and was burned to uselessness. [1], Originally, each proprietor's property was scattered. One of the first of these outlying settlements was Sandy Hook, settled within a year of the start of the village. CONNECTICUT STATEWIDE HISTORICAL PLACE DIRECTORY Connecticut has a rich collection of historical places in Newtown and beyond. Newtown was founded in 1705, and later incorporated in 1711. The library is a posthumous gift of Mary Elizabeth Hawley and was named after her maternal grandfather, a doctor in town from 1820 until his death in 1871. One Irishmen, James E. Madigan, published the popular Newtown Chronicle from 1880 to 1882, a Democratic, working-class rival to The Newtown Bee, a self-professed independent newspaper then hobbled by poor management. 10 and 41 of Rochambeau's Army, March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Reservoir Road, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Newtown,_Connecticut&oldid=949326394, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 5 April 2020, at 20:57. The "Fairfield Hills" state mental health hospital was erected in the 1930s and operated until its closure in the 1990s. Hawley's gift not only paid for construction of the building, but included a trust fund of about $250,000 which resulted in the town not financing the library until the 1980s. Your contributions will be archived with those of other Newtowners and accessed in the future by scholars, townspeople, students and others who study and look back on this historic time in our modern life. We invite all citizens, neighbors and visitors to use this information, help us enhance it, and make it more useful. The other, S. Curtis and Co., survived by remaking itself into a manufacturer of cardboard boxes and is now Curtis Packaging, Inc.[2]. This Newtown, CT vital record index website is deigned to assist people researching the early residents of Newtown. The Potatuck River at Sandy Hook allowed for the setting up of saw and grist mills. Newtown CT is accessible via routes 25, 6, and I … • Newtown, CT# Landmarks, a list of historic landmarks in Newtown including places listed on the National Register of Historic Places It is part of the greater Danbury metropolitan area as well as the New York metropolitan area. Industry declined during the 20th century, and Newtown became a residential community that retains its rural nature today. Built in 1780, it is on the National Register of Historic Places. Newtown CT is located in upper Fairfield County. In 1708, 36 Connecticut Englishmen petitioned the General Assembly to settle an area north of Stratford (at least seven men previously had been given permission to settle the area). [3], The proportion of the town's Irish-American population went from 5.6 percent in 1850 to 41.8 percent in 1890, and by 1900 it was up to 44 percent. Hawley School was constructed in the 1920s and over the years has been used as a whole-town school, a high school, and (currently) an elementary school. The community of Newtown, which has some 27,000 residents and is located about 45 miles southwest of Connecticut’s capital, Hartford, eventually decided to tear down Sandy Hook Elementary School. Location Map: Location Map Address: 16 Saw Mill Rd, Newtown, CT 06470-1440 Language: English; Phone: 203-426-1752 E-mail: CT_Newtown@ldmail.net Open Hours: Tuesday: 9:00am-2:00pm and 7:00pm-9:00pm Wednesday: 9:00am-12:00pm and 7:00pm-9:00pm Thursday: 9:00am-2:00pm and 7:00pm-10:00pm Holiday Schedule: Closed 1st weekend in … [1], For convenience, proprietors began moving away from the central village and to some of their larger parcels, and several proprietors with land in the same area tended to move out together to reduce isolation. Two button shops remained in 1900, one of which finally went out of business after a fire in 1926. University of Connecticut Libraries - Map and Geographic Information Center - MAGIC. Newtown Historical Society. [5], The town adopted a charter to reorganize local government in 1961 and most recently revised it in 2001. The library building was considered one of the most modern libraries of its time. The plan called for a 132-foot (40 m) wide north–south road (now Main Street), intersected by a northern and southern Cross Highway (now West Street, Church Hill Road and Glover Avenue Route 302). Some of the landmarks include the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Glover House and Edmond Town Hall. Top Newtown Landmarks: See reviews and photos of sights to see in Newtown, Connecticut on Tripadvisor. An estimated 4,000 people lined the streets of Newtown to view the town’s first-ever Labor Day Parade back on September 3, 1962. Most of the men settled with their families on the original 4-acre (16,000 m2) plots in a relatively compact village near the main street. Newtown Borough Historic District is a 100-acre (40-hectare) district in its namesake town. Orthodox Jewish immigrants fleeing poverty and persecution in Eastern Europe were encouraged to become farmers in Connecticut. In January 1998 an addition to the rear of the building was completed and officially opened, doubling the available floor space. Then each received a 20-acre (81,000 m2) parcel somewhere else in town. A Brief History of the Newtown Historic Association An important turning point in Newtown came in 1962 with the razing of “Washington’s Headquarters,” a historic brownstone house built in 1757 that stood on the southwest corner of Washington Avenue and Sycamore Street. Visit Us LEARN MORE Explore our 18th century inn, learn about Newtown's history and join us in preserving and celebrating our community. It was then a two-family house, with the Honan family residing in one half and renting the other half. Newtown was a stronghold of Tory sentiment during the early American Revolutionary War. Newtown was established In the year of 1914, Newtown was established. Beginning in 1891, Baron Maurice de Hirsch, a Jewish German philanthropist, helped finance several of the immigran… The rooster weathervane (a town symbol), located atop the Newtown Meeting House, is said to have been used as a target by French soldiers encamped here in 1781 during the Revolutionary War. [3], Many found work in the local factories and button shops. Over 200 fascinating images chosen by author Daniel Cruson bring to life nearly a century of Newtown's history from the end of the Civil War to the end of World War II. The town hall contains not only town offices, but a movie theater, a gymnasium for sports, parties and craft shows; the Alexandria Room, used for weddings, parties and recitals; and other, smaller meeting rooms. Learn more about the programs of CT Humanities! Upper Newtown Street, c. 1870. The Newtown Jewish Community began with the immigration of several families from Russia, Poland, Austria, Hungary & Germany. Hat making was an early industry, but the several small shops that developed were put out of business by the 1880s by the larger, more efficient factories in Danbury and Bethel. The building to the left is the old Newtown Academy, which was built in 1837 and used as an academy until 1885. “Newtown Collection.” Connecticut Digital Archive, n.d. Newtown Historical Society. The Newtown Bee, the weekly newspaper based in town, was founded in 1877, and owned (and operated) by the Smith family since 1881. In the center is the Congregational Church Parsonage, built in the late eighteenth century, which was demolished in the 1990s for bank expansion. In the early twentieth century, the old academy building served as a high school for Newtown. Newtown football history captured, nearly 3M views and counting By Pete Paguaga Dec. 15, 2019 Updated: Dec. 15, 2019 9:28 p.m. Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Reddit Pinterest Many Irishwomen worked as domestic laborers, seamstresses and lace makers. “Map: Bi-Centennial Map of the Town of Newtown, Connecticut Published Under the Direction of the Bi-Centennial Committee.” The Bi-Centennial Committee, 1905. A move to the interior meant they could have more land to farm. [1], Other concentrations of settlers (as seen from the establishment of schools) were at the area around Taunton Lake (school founded in 1738); Zoar to the east and Land's End to the north (both in 1748); Palestine petitioned for a school in 1748; Hanover got its school in 1755. The town of Newtown, originally known as Quanneapague, was purchased from the Pohtatuck Indians in 1705. The town was incorporated in 1711. The 36 became "petition proprietors" legally entitled to own its common land and share in the division when the town decided to parcel out tracts into private hands. What's the top one? We have the list of historical places for you to explore. Camps Nos. Zillow has 1 homes for sale in Newtown CT matching Historic Main Street. The town provides this web site to connect you with the information, services and people that comprise our town government. They were generally in their late 20s and early 30s, mostly from Stratford and Milford, and second- and third-generation immigrants and farmers to a man. In the following decades, the population dwindled to a low of 2,635 in 1930 before again growing. French General Rochambeau and his troops encamped here in 1781 on their way to the siege of Yorktown, Virginia, which ended the Revolution. Small gardens were started for vegetables and herbs. The charter retains a limited Town Meeting form of government with a three-member elected Board of Selectmen, a First Selectman acting as the town's chief executive and administrative officer, and a 12-member Legislative Council acting as the legislative body, and a six-member Board of Finance.[6]. 584 likes. In 1948, a lawyer, bought the rights to manufacture the game in exchange for granting the inventor a royalty on every unit sold. Although primarily a farming community, Newtown saw local industry flourish in the 19th century and factories in town produced various items including buttons, combs, folding boxes, and fire hoses. Searching the index will provides an easy way to find birth, death and marriage listings in the Newtown vital records. Marygold’s On Main has announced limited seatings for its opening at the former Inn at Newtown, 19 Main Street, beginning at 4 pm on Saturday, January 9. The Newtown Historical Society invites you to participate in creating a historical record of Newtown’s local experience dealing with the COVID-19 global pandemic. She moved to Newtown at the age of 15 and later in life used her family inheritance to make generous gifts to the community, including: Hawley School, Edmond Town Hall, The Soldiers and Sailors Monument and, … Almost all of the town's land was divided up within 20 years. A 49th parcel was reserved for the minister when one was chosen. "There was very little Catholic presence in town when the Irish moved in, and with the increase in the Irish population, St. Rose (Roman Catholic Church) saw a big lift in membership, for instance. [4], The game of Scrabble was developed in Newtown by a town resident. At one point there were 14 button shops, but after the Civil War, plastic began to replace the older materials and the industry shriveled. History. Retaining much of its small-town character, Newtown CT is a rural community 20 minutes north of Bridgeport. Other names include Dodgingtown, Hattertown, Lake George, and Head O’Meadow.)[1]. “The Matthew Curtiss House,” 2016. "[3] As more Irish moved into town in the 19th century, they changed the town's political majority from Republican to Democrat. The town was also the site of mica and feldspar mines. From the ancient remains of native settlements, to houses of founding fathers, the civil war, and beyond, Connecticut has plenty of history. Many of the immigrants came to Newtown from one small area of County Clare, according to Harlan Jessup, a local genealogist. Though it has been many different school functions, its original section has remained much the same, though two additions have been added since its construction. The first division gave each proprietor a 4-acre (16,000 m2) meadow lot to the south of the village, near Deep Brook. The Chronicle devoted one page of each four-page issue to news from Ireland. In the back were barns, privies and other small outbuildings, and typically an orchard farther back. History of Newtown, Connecticut - 18th Century 18th Century Newtown Meeting House served as the town's Congregational Church for many years. Incorporated in 1964, the NHA is dedicated to the preservation and celebration of Newtown's historical heritage. The town of Newtown, originally known as Quanneapague, was purchased from the Pohtatuck Indians in 1705. This June 25 event is for you! View listing photos, review sales history, and use our detailed real estate filters to find the perfect place. Newtown Historical Society, Queens, NY. The house at 58 Main Street in Newtown was built c. 1790 and is now the Honan Funeral Home. Newtown Historical Society House & Garden Tour Boasts Six Houses and Six Gardens - Newtown, CT - Do you love house and garden tours? 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