Sergeant John Botsford, for whom the Botsford section of Newtown is named, was one of the first settlers of Newtown.

Cockshure Island (later Hubbell Island) is a former island that was located one-third of a mile north of the Sandy Hook Bridge and was submerged after the construction of Stevenson Dam. Cockshure was a Pootatuck Indian who owned the island until 1733.

The Dingle is the name given to a wooded spot west of Pond Brook in Newtown by the WPA.

According the WPA, the Dodgingtown section of Newtown was “a crossroads hamlet named for the many drovers, horse-traders and peddlers `on the dodge’ who congregated at the crossroad taverns.”

Glover Hawley was Newtown’s first postmaster.

Shepard Hill Road was once called Hawley Folly Road.

Shepard Hill Road, formerly Hawley Folly Road, was named for John Shepard, who moved to Newtown in 1737.

The Middle Gate School district was so named because the land held the middle of three tollgates on the Newtown-Bridgeport Turnpike. The area was originally referred to as Bear Hill.

“Pootatuck” was the Colonial name for Newtown. A closer equivalent to the Indian word is Pautucket, or more exactly, the Mohegan pawntuckuck, which denotes “the country above the falls.”

The Sandy Hook School District was first organized in 1779, and was first called Poodertook Brook District.

Newtown was first named as “New Town” in May, 1708.

Newtown was purchased from the Indians in 1705, settled in 1708, incorporated as a town in 1711, and as a borough in 1824.

There is a Newtown in Hampshire, Northumberland and the Isle of Wright. These names date back to the 13th Century.

There are Newtowns in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

“Pootatuck” was the Colonial name for the area now known as the town of Newtown.

Newtown’s 60.38 square miles make it the fifth largest town in the state of Connecticut.

The first business meeting of Newtown’s town officers was held in the home of Peter Hubbell on September 24, 1711. Hubbell was voted Newtown’s first Town Clerk.

The first burying ground established for the community of Newtown was voted into place on March 24, 1711. One and a half acres in a lower part of the community was set aside; this section remains part of Newtown Village Cemetery, on Elm Drive.

In 18th Century Newtown, agriculture was the foundation of the economy.

Sheep were basic to Newtown’s early economy. As far back as 1732, town selectmen made provisions for a town flock.

Town Street, the founding name for Main Street in Newtown, was originally 132 feet wide when it was laid out in 1709.

The Southerly Cross Highway, which later became Glover Avenue and Sugar Street (Route 302) in Newtown, was 132 feet wide when it was first constructed.

Halfway River forms the boundary between the towns of Newtown and Monroe for almost all of its course.

Newtown’s first Liberty Pole was erected on July 4, 1876, in the spirit of and on the occasion of the nation’s centennial celebration.

Forty-three citizens of Newtown raised $107.50 to purchase the first Liberty Pole and flag, situated at Main Street and Church Hill Road. Since 1876, the first year Newtown had a flagpole placed at that intersection, the town’s official Liberty Pole has always been situated in the same location.

The Budd House, located at 50 Main Street in Newtown, was the first residential listing for Newtown on the National Register of Historic Places. The house, built in 1869 for Henry Beers Glover, was first called The Glover House.

On May 1, 1883, a committee recommended — and it was passed — that the sum of $600 be appropriated to provide the village of Newtown with its first hook and ladder truck.

Newtown Hook & Ladder is the oldest firefighting company in the town of Newtown. At its inception, each member was expected to provide buckets and ladders.

The Newtown General Store on Main Street first opened during the Civil War.

Newtown Savings Bank was founded in 1855. It was organized under the leadership of Henry Beers Glover.

Women first voted in elections held in Newtown in October 1920.

Mary Elizabeth Hawley’s first gift to the town of Newtown was The Hawley School. It was dedicated in 1922.

Mary Elizabeth Hawley, who has become “the benefactress of Newtown,” was the first of four children born to her parents, Sarah (Booth) and Marcus Clinton Hawley.

A bell atop Edmond Town Hall was rung for the first time when the town of Newtown honored the funeral cortege of Mary Elizabeth Hawley.

The first public swimming facility in the town of Newtown was a large swimming pool dug at Dickinson Park in 1956. Dickinson was the town’s first park, established one year earlier.

Academy Lane was named for the Newtown Academy, originally built in 1937 to serve the need for education beyond the district’s elementary level.

Aunt Park and Phyllis Lane, both in Newtown, pay tribute to two 19th Century women who were known for the medicinal remedies they grew or found in nearby woods and fields.

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

Great Ring Road, in the Sandy Hook section of Newtown, reflects a local legend that the spot was where hunters (possibly Indians) formed a great ring to drive game to the top of a hill.

The Hattertown area of Newtown was the site of several hat factories during the 19th Century.

Lake George Road in Newtown never ran along the bank of a body of water. It was named for two local property owners, Thomas Lake and George Bank.

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

Philo Curtis Road in Sandy Hook was named for a Newtown selectman elected in 1843.

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

Sugar Street and Sugar Lane in Newtown were named for large sugar maple trees that once lined the road from Newtown to Bethel.

Tory Lane in Newtown refers to the days of the Revolutionary War when Newtown was initially a pro-English stronghold. In 1774-75, the town government and Newtown’s two members of the state’s general assembly were still loyal to the king; the assembly ousted one, the other resigned.

Wendover Road acquired its picturesque name in the 1940s, when residents voted by an 8-7 margin to replace “Carcass Lane.” A slaughterhouse had once been located at the end of the passageway.

In the 1800s, Newtown had more button shops than any other town in the state.

Three Connecticut governors have either been born or lived in Newtown: Isaac Tousey (elected 1846), Henry Dutton (1854) and Luzon B. Morris (1869).

Aviation pioneer and early air mail pilot Richard Botsford was a descendant of one of Newtown’s founding families.

A cooler used by astronauts was invented in Newtown in 1969.

Newtown resident R.E. Fulton, Jr, invented a sky hook for use by the US Navy in 1960.

The “kabob” skewer, used for cooking over a fireplace or grill, was devised in Newtown in 1948.

Dr Henry Rogers of Newtown developed an optics camera in 1947.

In 1931, Edward B. Allen of Newtown invented a work clamp for the Singer Sewing Machine.