A ridge-top town on the Housatonic, bought from the Pohtatuck people in 1705, where a drum once called families to the meetinghouse that stood where the flagpole rises today, Rochambeau's whole army camped in 1781, and Sandy Hook's mill stream turned out combs, hats and rubber goods.

Fairfield County · Record checked October 11, 2026

27,173Population2020 census1
1711Incorporatedsix years after the 1705 purchase1
1781The French campall four of Rochambeau's regiments at once2
100 ftThe flagpolesteel pole of 1950 in the middle of Main Street3
12National Registerplaces, all still standing4

Newtown on the map

Click the map to look closer.

Map of Newtown, Connecticut in 2026, with Newtown Borough, Sandy Hook, Hattertown, Hawleyville and 34 numbered landmarks

2026

Newtown today

By KNOWOL

Shaded hills from Barnabas Hill west of the borough to the Housatonic in the northeast, every street, Newtown Borough, Sandy Hook, Hattertown and Hawleyville, and a guide of 34 numbered landmarks with the National Register sites marked.5

See the 2026 printMore about this map

The story of Newtown

The drum on Newtown Street

Picture Newtown Street about 1755 at meeting time. The meetinghouse stood near the spot where the flagpole rises now, and Stephen Parmaly beat a drum to call people in. Families came along the paths on horseback, the wife riding on a pillion behind, the children walking beside. In 1754 the town meeting let every farmer build a small Sabbath Day house near the church. The town was still small. The Grand List of 1739 named 143 property holders and 202 horses, each horse rated at 15 dollars. The mills came first of all: a fulling mill on Deep Brook in 1712, a spot still called Fulling Mill hole in 1905, and Samuel Sanford's grist mill under Mount Pisgah in 1714.678

When the French came to town

In June 1781 Rochambeau's French army marched across Connecticut to join Washington, and Newtown was its tenth camp. It was one of the largest camps in the state, because all four regiments gathered here before heading toward New York. Two of them camped on a rise east of the village, where Hawley School stands. Officers stayed at the Caleb Baldwin Tavern on Main Street, and the Baldwins hosted Claude Blanchard, the army's commissary. Mary Ann Glover, born in 1776, lived to 102. She said she remembered the French camp on the plain east of the village, and the day peace was proclaimed, when an ox was roasted whole at the head of Newtown Street.2910

Sandy Hook's mill stream

Sandy Hook grew up where the Pootatuck River runs under a bluff 160 feet high. By 1834 the village had a cotton factory, a hat factory, a comb factory and two woolen factories, with about fifty families. A comb and button business started there by David Curtis moved up to Berkshire, where the Curtis family built a neat little village around the works. Over in Hattertown, families shaped rough felt hats for finishers in Danbury and New York, and in 1845 the town had seven hat factories. In 1856 the New York Belting and Packing Company built its brick mill on Glen Road, and by 1881 its nearly 300 workers did the largest business of its kind in the country.111213141516

Through the years

25 moments from 1705 to today.

  1. 1705English colonists buy the town site, called Quanneapague, from the Pohtatuck people.1
  2. 1709Rev. Thomas Toucey, a Yale graduate, comes as the first minister.17
  3. 1711Newtown, settled from Stratford, is incorporated.1
  4. 1712John Hawley is allowed to set a fulling mill on Deep Brook, a spot still called Fulling Mill hole in 1905.7
  5. 1714Samuel Sanford is granted land under Mount Pisgah to build the first grist mill, in what is now Sandy Hook.8
  6. 1723A town vote still calls the Housatonic the Great or Potatuck River, in a plan to buy Quiomph's remaining claims.18
  7. 1732The first Episcopal church goes up at the south end of Newtown Street, with John Beach as rector.17
  8. 1739The Grand List names 143 property holders and 202 horses.6
  9. 1754The town meeting lets every farmer build a small Sabbath Day house.6
  10. 1763About this year the Caleb Baldwin Tavern is built on Main Street.9
  11. 1766The town votes to build its first town house, on the site of today's Trinity Church.19
  12. 1777On August 25 the first eight men take the oath of fidelity before town clerk Caleb Baldwin.20
  13. 1781Rochambeau's French army camps at Newtown on its march toward Yorktown.2
  14. 1782Rev. John Beach dies in the 51st year of his ministry.11
  15. 1792Men and horses roll the meetinghouse 132 feet on logs to its place on West Street.5
  16. 1821The Taylor and Benedict families start making hats in Hattertown.13
  17. 1824The Borough of Newtown is incorporated.1
  18. 1834Sandy Hook has cotton, hat, comb and woolen factories and about fifty families.11
  19. 1845Newtown counts seven hat factories, three comb factories and four tanneries.14
  20. 1856The New York Belting and Packing Co. builds its brick mill on the Pootatuck.15
  21. 1876The first flagpole goes up on Main Street for the centennial.3
  22. 1877The Newtown Bee prints its first issue on June 27.21
  23. 1905The bicentennial on August 5 hangs flags from the liberty pole to all four corners.22
  24. 1930Edmond Town Hall, Mary Elizabeth Hawley's gift, is dedicated.1
  25. 1950The 100-foot steel flagpole replaces the wooden ones.3

Places to see

The numbers match the landmark guide printed on the 2026 map.

  • 1Ram's PastureNewtown Borough. Old common land, still a meadow.
  • 3The Meeting HouseWest Street. Rolled 132 feet on logs in 1792.
  • 10Cyrenius H. Booth LibraryMain Street. Public library opened in 1932.Visit their website
  • 12Hattertown Historic DistrictHattertown Green. A whole village in the hat trade.
  • 16New York Belting and Packing Co.Glen Road, Sandy Hook. Brick mill of 1856 with tower.
  • 17Rocky Glen State Park Scenic ReserveSandy Hook. Trail to a cascade on the Pootatuck.
  • 20Edmond Town HallMain Street. Mary Elizabeth Hawley's gift, dedicated 1930.Visit their website
  • 23Caleb Baldwin Tavern32 Main Street. Housed French officers in 1781.
  • 25Trinity Episcopal ChurchMain Street. Gray granite Gothic Revival church of 1870.Visit their website
  • 31Sanford-Curtis-Thurber HouseRiverside Road. James Thurber's weekend home in the 1930s.

On the National Register

All 12 places in Newtown on the National Register of Historic Places that still stand today, oldest first, and why each one matters.4

  • John Glover House

    Built about 1708 · Listed 2001 · 53 Echo Valley Road

    Built by John Glover of Stratford on land the first proprietors had bought in 1705, it is a remarkably well-preserved early house. Glovers farmed here for generations, and when it was sold out of the family in 1965 its only modern convenience was a telephone.23

  • Nathan B. Lattin Farm

    Built about 1750 · Listed 1990 · 22 Walker Hill Road

    A center-chimney farmhouse on 58 acres beside the Halfway River, with beehive ovens built of stone instead of brick. The Lattins farmed here until about 1897, and the house had no plumbing or electricity until 1978.24

  • Hattertown Historic District

    Listed 1996 · Junction of Aunt Park Lane, Castle Meadow, Hattertown and Hi Barlow Roads

    The village around Hattertown Green grew up on the hat trade after the Taylor and Benedict families arrived in 1821. Its eleven historic houses range from about 1750 to about 1850.13

  • Nichols Satinet Mill Site

    Listed 1996 · Address restricted (Orchard Hill Nature Center)

    An industrial archeological site owned by the Nichols family in the 1760s, with two old dams and mill sites. The later dam is a wall of granite blocks 30 feet high and 125 feet long, now inside the town's Orchard Hill Nature Center.25

  • Caleb Baldwin Tavern

    Built about 1763 · Listed 2002 · 32 Main Street

    A two-chimney, center-hall house that housed French officers in 1781 as Rochambeau's army marched toward Yorktown. The Baldwins hosted Claude Blanchard, the army's commissary, who came ahead to arrange housing and supplies.9

  • Sanford-Curtis-Thurber House

    Built about 1780 · Listed 2007 · 71 Riverside Road, Sandy Hook

    A Georgian farmhouse built for Thomas Sanford, one of the area's first settlers. Althea Thurber bought it in 1931, the family dogs here turned up in James Thurber's New Yorker sketches, and he wrote much of My Life and Hard Times while living here.26

  • Newtown Borough Historic District

    Listed 1996 · Roughly Main Street from Hawley Road to Academy Lane

    About half of the borough as first incorporated in 1824, with buildings from 1780 on, including the flagpole, Edmond Town Hall, the Matthew Curtiss House and Ram's Pasture, a meadow that was once common land.27

  • Camps Nos. 10 and 41 of Rochambeau's Army

    Listed 2002 · Address restricted (including the grounds of Hawley School)

    Newtown was the French army's tenth camp in 1781, one of the largest in Connecticut, because all four regiments camped here at once. The army used the same ground again on its return march in 1783.2

  • March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Reservoir Road

    Listed 2003 · Junction of Reservoir Road and Mount Pleasant Road South

    A stretch of Reservoir Road between stone walls, believed to be the road the French army took in 1781.28

  • New York Belting and Packing Co.

    Built 1856 · Listed 1982 · 45-71 and 79-89 Glen Road, Sandy Hook

    A four-story brick mill with an Italianate tower beside a dam on the Pootatuck. The Fabric Fire Hose Company made hoses here until 1977, and it has been offices called Rocky Glen Mill since 1980.15

  • Glover House

    Built 1869 · Listed 1982 · 50 Main Street

    A Second Empire house with a mansard roof and a porch on Corinthian columns, built for Henry Beers Glover, one of the town's richest men. His descendants, later named Budd, lived here until 1977.29

  • Fairfield Hills Campus Historic District

    Listed 2024 · 1st Street, Keating Farms Avenue, Primrose Street, Trades Lane and Wasserman Way

    The red brick campus of Fairfield State Hospital, whose cornerstone was laid in 1931 and which ran until 1995. The town bought it in 2004, and its buildings now hold the Municipal Center and other town uses.30

In their words

“Newtown is today one of the beautiful New England towns ; the broad village street, characteristic of the better class of Connecticut towns, is well shaded”

A genealogical and biographical record of the pioneer Thomas Skidmore, 191131

“I am delighted to be home again and mingle with those of you who still live in dear old Newtown”

Dr. William C. Wile at Newtown's bicentennial, 190532

“Generations have passed away, but though men may come and men may go, the streams flow on forever.”

Newtown's bicentennial, 1906, on the first grist mill at Sandy Hook8

Nearby towns

Sources

  1. Newtown, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  2. Camps Nos. 10 and 41 of Rochambeau's Army, Wikipedia
  3. Newtown, Connecticut Flagpole, Wikipedia
  4. National Register of Historic Places listings in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  5. Map of Newtown, Connecticut in 2026, KNOWOL (USGS elevation, Census Bureau roads)
  6. Newtown's bicentennial (1906), on Sabbath Day houses, the meeting drum and the Grand List of 1739, Internet Archive
  7. Newtown's bicentennial (1906), on the early saw and fulling mills, Internet Archive
  8. Newtown's bicentennial (1906), on the first grist mill, Internet Archive
  9. Caleb Baldwin Tavern, Wikipedia
  10. Newtown's bicentennial (1906), on Aunt Mary Ann Glover and the French camps, Internet Archive
  11. Connecticut historical collections (1837), on Sandy Hook and John Beach, Internet Archive
  12. Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut (1899), on the Curtis comb works, Internet Archive
  13. Hattertown, Connecticut, Wikipedia
  14. Annual report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the State of Connecticut, industrial history of Newtown, Internet Archive
  15. New York Belting and Packing Co., Wikipedia
  16. History of Fairfield County, Connecticut (1881), on the New York Belting and Packing Company, Internet Archive
  17. A genealogical and biographical record of the pioneer Thomas Skidmore (1911), on Newtown's first churches, Internet Archive
  18. A history of the old town of Stratford and the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut (1886), Internet Archive
  19. History of Fairfield County, Connecticut (1881), on Newtown's town houses, Internet Archive
  20. Newtown's bicentennial (1906), on the oath of fidelity, Internet Archive
  21. History of Fairfield County, Connecticut (1881), on the Newtown Bee, Internet Archive
  22. Newtown's bicentennial (1906), on decorating the village, Internet Archive
  23. John Glover House, Wikipedia
  24. Nathan B. Lattin Farm, Wikipedia
  25. Nichols Satinet Mill Site, Wikipedia
  26. Sanford-Curtis-Thurber House, Wikipedia
  27. Newtown Borough Historic District, Wikipedia
  28. March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Reservoir Road, Wikipedia
  29. Glover House (Newtown, Connecticut), Wikipedia
  30. Fairfield Hills Hospital, Wikipedia
  31. A genealogical and biographical record of the pioneer Thomas Skidmore (1911), on Newtown today, Internet Archive
  32. Newtown's bicentennial (1906), address of Dr. W. C. Wile, Internet Archive