On August 5, 1705, three speculators from Stratford purchased from the Pootatuck Indians land that would eventually become Newtown.

Newtown was legally established in 1708 when the Connecticut Colony gave 36 men permission to lay out a new town in the area north of Stratford. In 1710 of these individuals drew lots for parcels of 20 acres each.

In 1711 a town government was elected in Newtown at the home of Peter Hubbell, who became the town’s first town clerk.

The first settlement beyond the village of Newtown was Sandy Hook. As early as 1714, Samuel Sanford had received permission to build the town’s first gristmill on the Pootatuck River.

The old North Central School, one of Newtown’s early schoolhouses, was moved in 1931 to make way for the Soldiers’ and Sailor’s Monument at the head of Main Street.

Newtown’s tradition of showing movies in town hall began in the old town hall in 1914 when silent films were popular. Originally built as a Universalist church in 1835, the building on Main Street also served as the first Catholic church in town before it was finally torn down in 1929 when Edmond Town Hall was being built.

The cornerstone of Edmond Town Hall was laid by Mary Elizabeth Hawley on May 1, 1929, a year before her death.

Town benefactress Mary Elizabeth Hawley lived on Main Street from 1871 until her death in 1930 in the house built about 1820 by her maternal grandfather, Cyrenius H. Booth. The house was sold and became an inn after her death.

The General Store on Main Street was constructed in 1847 by David Johnson and was extensively rebuilt in the late 1860’s. It has changed little since then.

Newtown Savings Bank was founded in 1855 and originally was located in the northern half of the building on the corner of West Street at the flagpole.

Newtown’s famous Castle Ronald sat atop what would become known as Castle Hill from 1888 until it was torn down in 1947. It was built by Peter Lorillard Ronald, a New York-based world traveler and millionaire.

The Masonic Hall was built in 1906 in Sandy Hook after the Masons lost their first meeting hall in a fire that destroyed the old post office block on Washington Avenue.

Botsford was named for its second postmaster, Oliver Botsford, after he retired from that position in 1883. The original name for that section of town was Cold Spring.

The Newtown Country Club was founded in December 1915.

Trinity Episcopal Church, on the corner of Church Hill Road and Main Street, was built in 1870 to replace an earlier wooden church building.

At one time there were more than 20 school districts in Newtown. The oldest, Taunton, was founded in 1738.

Robert Thompson, a Tory, was hanged in Newtown on June 8, 1777, for “recruiting, spying, and treasonable practices.”

In 1803 the townspeople of Newtown voted $100 to purchase a fire engine. Two months later that vote was recinded, however, and instead Elijah Nichols was appointed “chimney viewer.”

In 1845 Samuel CUrtis founded S. Curtis & Son, Inc., in the Berkshire section of Sandy Hook. The factory manufactured combs and buttons, and later converted to the production of folding paper boxes.

The Newtown Agricultural Society Fair was held from 1894 until 1906, first on Main Street and later on 12½ acres of land that later become Taylor Field behind Hawley School.

Hawley School, the first major gift to the town by Mary Elizabeth Hawley, was dedicated in 1922.

The Yankee Drover Inn, a Main Street landmark previously known as the Grand Central Hotel and the Parker House, was completely destroyed in a fire on January 18, 1981.

Newtown Hook & Ladder Fire Company was founded in 1803 and served as the town’s only fire company until Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Company was formed in 1911.

Still in existance, the Men’s Literary and Social Club of Newtown Street, was founded in 1894 with a membership limited to 20 men drawn from all professions and all sections of town.

Newtown’s first flagpole, the Liberty pole as it was then called, was erected to celebrate the national centennial on July 4, 1876.

According to records of the adjutant general’s office, 243 Newtown men enlisted to fight in the Civil War.

Dickinson Memorial Park was dedicated in August 1955 in memory of the late A. Fenn Dickinson, the town’s first selectman who was killed in an accident during the construction of Sandy Hook Elementary School that year.

Treadwell Memorial Park on Philo Curtis Road in Sandy Hook was dedicated in 1982 in memory of the late Timothy B. Treadwell, a first selectman who was killed in a fire in his Zoar Road home.

Aunt Park Lane and Phyllis Lane pay tribute to two 19th century women who were known for the medical remedies they grew or found in nearby woods and fields.

Academy Lane was named for the Newtown Academy which was originally built in 1837 to serve the need for education beyond the district elementary level.

Bennetts Bridge Road led to one of the earliest bridges to cross the Housatonic River, connecting Newtown with the Kettletown section of Southbury. The family name Bennett was common in the town’s early history.

John Beach Road was named for the famous minister and Tory who unsettled colonial Newtown by transferring his loyalty from the Congregational to the Anglican (or Episcopal) denomination.

Man-made Lake Lillinonah was created in 1955 and named for an Indian princess who allegedly jumped to her death from Lover’s Leap on the Housatonic River.

Mt Pleasant Road originally was known as Slut’s Hill.

Author and cartoonist James Thurber lived on Riverside Road in Sandy Hook for several years.

Opera star Grace Moore lived at Faraway Meadows on Bradley Lane in Sandy Hook for 10 years until her death in a plane crash in Copenhagen in 1947.

Silver City Road derives its unlikely name from a dude ranch which once attracted horse lovers to the Newtown area.

Queen Street was christened in honor of Queen Anne, who ruled England from 1702 to 1714.

The Congregational Church was established in Newtown in 1715, the first church in the settlement. Its meeting house on Main Street was completed in 1719 and the steeple was added in 1761.

French soldiers of the army of Count De Rochambeau camped in Newtown from June 28 to July 1, 1781, en route from Providence, R.I., to join the forces of General George Washington in Bedford, N.Y.

Two toll gates were erected in Newtown when the Bridgeport-Newtown Turnpike was established (on Route 25) in the early 1800s. One, called the Middle Gate, was located on the Monroe town line close to where Middle Gate Elementary School is now exists. The North Gate was in Hawleyville.