On New Year’s Day, Newtown Historical Society took to Facebook and Instagram to introduce the community to Ezra the Rooster. On January 21, Ezra’s first adventure was recorded outside The Matthew Curtis House, located at 44 Main Street.

Ezra the Rooster is an idea that hatched from the head of Barbara Wilson, a volunteer recruiter for the local historical society. Wilson shared with The Bee, “I saw … another site of Facebook … that had a stuffed dog … and they had a picture of him at some location and they were talking about how he was … visiting this significant place that had some kind of relationship to their organization. I thought, ‘isn’t that cute?’”

Wilson continued, “There’s a lot of places in Newtown that people know about, you know, Edmond Town Hall, but there’s a lot of places that they don’t know about that have a lot of historical significance.”

As she discussed this idea with other historical society members, she said that “pretty much from the beginning we knew that it would be a rooster,” but the question of what the rooster would look like remained.

Wilson said that she originally hoped for something soft and cuddly that might attract young children; however, trustee Abby Simes found the current Ezra online and Wilson loved it.

“I said, ‘oh, I don’t want metal,’ but she showed me a picture and I was like, ‘Oh my God, he’s beautiful!”

She added that Ezra has a nice expression on his face compared to other roosters they saw, as they looked quite angry. After they found their rooster, the historical society needed a name.

The historical society settled on Ezra after Ezra Levan Johnson, Newtown’s first “unofficial” historian. Ezra was born in 1832 and lived on his family farm. Persnickety Bride and Persnickety Promotions now occupy the space at 84 South Main Street, but it was once a bustling farm that Ezra worked on with his father. This was Ezra’s second stop in his adventures, of which there are more to come.

Wilson hopes Ezra will catch people’s attention and they will want to learn more about Newtown and its history. Each post will include a brief history about the location and vintage photos, if available. She added, “We hope it gets the word out … [and people] learn what’s around [them],” as Ezra Around Town is completely volunteer-based.

Wilson shared that there are separate photographers and writers for each post, and everyone does it a little differently.

“The next one we’re doing, the writer did it from Ezra’s point of view,” Wilson said. Though she did not disclose the next location, she did share that it is along Main Street.

For those interested in following Ezra Around Town, follow Newtown Historical Society on Instagram, @newtowncthistoricalsociety, or like it on Facebook, facebook.com/newtownhistoricalsociety.

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.