Brookfield Timeline

1684: Danbury was settled

1707: New Milford was settled

1710: Newtown was settled

1732: Ironworks District settled

1745: First bridge built at the Ironworks

1748: First Grist Mill, Land’s End Cemetery established

1754: Newbury Parish was settled

1755: The Ecclesiastical Society of Newbury Parish accepts the site of the first Meetinghouse

1756: Parish of Newbury voted to hold school for six months per year, Voted to lay a tax on the inhabitants to cover the meetinghouse

1757: The meetinghouse was dedicated and Thomas Brooks was ordained and installed as permanent minister of the Congregation Society

1760: White Turkey Inn built

1761: Four School Districts – Ironworks, Whisconier, Pocono, Obtuse

1776: Earliest burial in Huckleberry Hill Cemetery, July 4th the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence

1777: Central Cemetery established

1778: Earliest burial in Merwin Brook Cemetery

1781: English General Cornwallis surrendered to the combined American and French forces, effectively ending the American War for Independence, First Physician – Dr. Preserve Wood

1783: A peace treaty was formally signed in Paris on September 3 granting Americans unconditional independence

1785: First Episcopalian Church established

1788: The Parish of Newbury became the Town of Brookfield, First Town Meeting held on June 9

1789: April 30 George Washington was inaugurated as the first President of the United States, Influenza epidemic caused canceling of public meetings

1790: Population of Brookfield numbered 1,018, First Episcopal Church building constructed, Rhode Island ratified the Constitution, the last of the thirteen original Colonies to do so

1792: Brookfield Town Singing School started

1794: Old South Cemetery was established

1795: Samuel Ruggles, first missionary to Hawaiian Islands, born in Brookfield, Bell placed in the Town Hall

1796: The Brookfield Town House was completed

1797: Masonic Federal Lodge #41 established in Brookfield on November 7

1801: First Post Office established in Brookfield – Colbe Chamberlain was the first postmaster

1808: Brookfield's Eight Schools – East Ironworks, West Ironworks, Whisconier, Center, Long Meadow Hill, Bound Swamp, South Mountain and Obtuse

1810: Brookfield's population is 1,037; Temperance Society started

1830: Population of Brookfield 1,255 (population of Chicago was 100); Stage Route from Danbury to Poughkeepsie

1836: The Housatonic Railroad Company was granted a charter

1837: Ironworks Aqueduct Company established; Methodist Church establishes; Daniel Tomlinson built a dam on the Still River and a factory for making Currier's knives; Second Episcopal Church built

1839: South Mountain School changed to Whortleberry Hill School

1840: First train in the Ironworks District

1845: Laurel Hill Cemetery established

1846: Baptist Church established in the Ironworks District

1850: Probate Court established - Brookfield Judge Ebenezer Blackman appointed Probate Judge; Population of Brookfield 1,359

1852: Sons of Temperance and the auxiliary the Cadets organized in Brookfield

1854: Second Meeting House of the Congregational Church was dedicated

1858: St. Paul’s School for Boys established on Longmeadow Hill Road

1866: Anti-Thieving Society established; horses were being stolen

1867: Catholic Parish established in Brookfield

1868: Dutch Reformed Church established in Brookfield; St. Paul’s School for Boys closes; Henry Hawley opened a hat factory; Village Store built

1869: Second Post Office established

1870: Brookfield Shakespearian Dramatic Society established

1872: Population of Brookfield is 1,193

1873: January 26, record snow fall of two feet

1875: A new Brookfield Town House was built and called "Town Hall"

1876: General Custer chose the Little Big Horn to make his last stand

1880: Present Stone Bridge on route 25 built

1881: Measles epidemic closed the schools; Red Cross organized under Clara Barton

1883: Curtis School for Boys moved to Brookfield

1884: The Dutch Reform Church becomes The Chapel

1885: Statue of Liberty dedicated

1888: Brookfield celebrates its 100th birthday

1889: Miss Wilhelmine Skidmore opened a school for girls in Brookfield Center

1892: St. Joseph’s Catholic Church built on Pocono Road

1893: Village Improvement Society established in Brookfield

1894: Brookfield Grange established

1895: Hawley Bible School opened on Whisconier Hill

1900: Greene School of Music opened

1902: Lenox Shear Company destroyed by fire

1903: Local chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union formed

1907: Ziegler Summer School of Singing established in Brookfield Center

1910: White Turkey Inn opened

1913: The Brookfield Improvement Society put streetlights through the Center

1914: Railroad tracks moved and train station built in the Ironworks District

1915: Electric lights come to Brookfield Center; Boy Scouts of America established; Brookfield Chapter of the Red Cross established

1917: Old Post Road Inn opened; Camp Fire Girls established

1918: Ancient Inn, located in the Ironworks district, moved to Danbury; Aunt Sue’s Brook, a watering trough on Route 133, was given to the town by the Women’s Christian Temperance Union

1920: Pocono Grange established; 155 Women presented themselves at the Town Hall to be made voters

1922: Pick Penny John died

1924: Greene School of Music closed after the death of Professor Herbert Greene

1925: Tuck Electroplating Company established

1926: Brookfield Book Club meets; July 15, Construction of Candlewood Lake began

1929: Lake Candlewood completely filled; New state highway built north to Obtuse (currently Route 133 to Bridgewater)

1934: Brookfield Fire Department formally organized on May 7

1937: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was burned on February 14

1938: Consolidated School replaces the one-room schoolhouses; Saint Paul's Church rebuilt in stone

1939: Town offices moved into the former Center School

1940: The Grotto was started

1943: Curtis School for Boys closed
1945: General Jonathan Wainwright visits Brookfield

1951: Joyce Memorial Library established in the old Town Hall; Brookfield Craft Center opened

1953: Ground broken for new firehouse in Brookfield Center; Friends of the Library established

1955: Lake Lillinohah filled overnight during Hurricane Dianne

1956: St. Joseph’s Parochial School opened

1957: Samuel Wilson became Brookfield's first Resident State Trooper; The first Brookfield Journal was published

1958: Williams Park built

1959: Brookfield High School built; Brookfield Players acquire gym from Curtis School for use as Playhouse; Nutmeg Inn fire

1960: Zoning Laws put into effect; Eugene McGowan was appointed first School Superintendent; Chamber of Commerce formed; Population 1,345 and start of largest growth period in Brookfield history; United Jewish Brookfield Cemetery's first burial

1961: Candlewood Shores Annexed from New Fairfield

1963: Prince of Peace Lutheran Church held first services

1966: Prince of Peace Nursery School opens; Huckleberry Hill School built

1967: Newbury Congregational Church established; First High School Graduation from Brookfield High School

1968: Brookfield Historical Society founded; Gospel Hall takes over former St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on Pocono Road; Brookfield purchased the Gurski Farm

1970: Whisconier School built; Brookfield Veterans of Foreign Wars organized

1971: White Turkey Inn and pond removed

1972: Fire at Grant's Farm on Pocono Road

1975: The Brookfield Public Library opened in its present location

1976: The Brookfield Museum & Historical Society began occupying the old Town House

1977: Brookfield Police Department organized; Wild Cherry Tree on Junction Road cut down

1981: Brooks Quarry built and named for Rev. Thomas Brooks

1983: New Town Hall and Senior Center on Pocono Road opens

1986: Population of Brookfield is 13,920
1988: Brookfield celebrates its 200th birthday

1991: The first Kid's Kingdom playground is erected near Town Hall on Pocono Road; The new Saint Joseph's Church opened

1992: Veterans Memorial dedicated

1999: Brookfield purchased Happy Landing's Farm and Burr Farm

2002: Horse sculptures are erected on Town Hall property

2004: M. Jodi Rell, Brookfield resident, is elected 87th Governor of Connecticut from 2004-2011

2007: Route 7 bypass construction began; completed in 2009

2010: Population of Brookfield is 16,200

2012: The second Kid's Kingdom playground is erected

2013: Brookfield's 225 birthday celebration