Sandy Hook is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

of Newtown, Connecticut, United States, founded in 1711. It was listed as a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

prior to the 2020 census. According to the United States Census Bureau in 2021, it has a population of 9,114.

History

Sandy Hook was founded in 1711 when several proprietors with land in the area relocated together to reduce isolation. Within a year of the settlement of Newtown, some of its proprietors began moving away from the central village to some of their larger parcels. Colonists found that the Pootatuck River at Sandy Hook allowed for saw and gristmills, leading to it becoming one of the first outlying areas to be settled.Cruson, Daniel
"A Brief History of Newtown"
, Web page at Newtown Historical Society Web site, accessed December 14, 2012. In 1839, the chemist and engineer Charles Goodyear accidentally invented the process of vulcanization while living on Glen Road, to the north of Sandy Hook center. This led to the creation and prosperity of the Goodyear Rubber Packing factory in the following 15 years, and hugely impacted the

manufacturing industry Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ...

in the following decades. The Sandy Hook neighborhood did not grow dramatically until the mid-19th century post-industrialization, due to innovation and economic growth caused by businesses such as the Goodyear Rubber Packing Factory.

2012 school shooting

, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother at home, and then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School where he killed 20 children aged 6–7 along with six adults. He died by suicide when police arrived at the school. It was the mass shooting in U.S. history at the time, after the 2007

Virginia Tech shooting The Virginia Tech shooting was a spree killer, spree shooting that occurred on Monday, April 16, 2007, comprising two attacks on the campus of the Virginia Tech, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksbu ...

s. Following the shooting, both the Lanza family home and Sandy Hook Elementary School were demolished, in 2013 and 2016 respectively; a new school being rebuilt at the same site.

Geography

Located within Newtown, Sandy Hook borders the Newtown borough and the village of Botsford to the south, as well as the towns of Monroe, Southbury, and

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

along the Housatonic River, to the east. The immediate area surrounding Sandy Hook village contains multiple amenities and green spaces including Rocky Glen State Park and Paugussett State Forest, as well as Timothy B. Treadwell Memorial Park and the Sandy Hook Memorial Park. Sandy Hook includes the communities of Berkshire, Riverside, Walnut Tree Hill, and Zoar. It also extends for a short distance into the town of Monroe along Old Zoar Road and Bagburn Hill/Jordan Hill Road.

Landmarks

Sandy Hook has a few historic landmarks on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. * Nathan B. Lattin Farm * New York Belting and Packing Co. * Sanford–Curtis–Thurber House

Religious sites

The Newtown United Methodist Church was created for the Newtown Methodist in the 1850s. In 1972 it was moved to its current location, in the centre of Sandy Hook.

Notable people

* John Angel, sculptor * Luther Meade Blackman, major during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

accused of forging the Bat Creek inscription *

Suzanne Collins Suzanne Collins (born August 10, 1962) is an American author and television writer who is best known as the author of the young adult literature, young adult Dystopian fiction, dystopian book series ''The Hunger Games''. She is also the author ...

, American television writer and author of ''

The Underland Chronicles ''The Underland Chronicles'' is a series of five high fantasy, epic fantasy novels by Suzanne Collins, first published between 2003 and 2007. It tells the story of a boy named Gregor and his adventures in the "Underland", a subterranean world l ...

'' and ''

The Hunger Games ''The Hunger Games'' are a series of Young adult fiction, young adult Dystopian fiction, dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The series consists of a trilogy that follows teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and two ...

'' trilogy * Anthony Edwards, actor * William Hamilton Gibson, 19th-century illustrator, author, and naturalistAdams, John Coleman, 'William Hamilton Gibson,' , Feb. 1897, p. 643 * Charles Goodyear, gained renown in 1839 for the technique of the vulcanization of rubber * Ruth Gordon, actress and wife of

Garson Kanin Garson Kanin (November 24, 1912 – March 13, 1999) was an American writer and director of plays and films. Early life Garson Kanin was born in Rochester, New York; his Jewish family later relocated to Detroit then to New York City. He at ...

* Arthur Twining Hadley, 13th president of Yale University * Charles R. Jackson, 1950s writer and novelist, author of '' The Lost Weekend'' * Caitlyn Jenner,

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

decathlon gold medalist *

Elia Kazan Elias Kazantzoglou (, ; September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003), known as Elia Kazan ( ), was a Greek-American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one of the most honored and inf ...

, stage/motion picture director and author * Steven Kellogg, illustrator *

Grace Moore Mary Willie Grace Moore (December 5, 1898January 26, 1947) was an American operatic lyric soprano and actress in musical theatre and film.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', January 29, 1947, page 48. She was nicknamed the "Tennessee N ...

, operatic soprano and actress in musical theater and film * Valentin Panera, Spanish actor, husband of Grace Moore * Molly Pearson, 20th-century stage actress * Albert Berger Rossdale, U.S. Representative from New York * James Thurber, writer, satirist, cartoonist, author of " The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" * Marcus Tracy, professional soccer player * Mead Treadwell, 13th Lieutenant Governor of Alaska and former chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission * Jenna von Oÿ, actress and singer * Thelma Wood, sculptor * Wally Cox, actor * Antonio Fargas, actor * Max Nacewicz, professional football player

References

{{Authority control Newtown, Connecticut Villages in Connecticut Villages in Fairfield County, Connecticut 1711 establishments in Connecticut Populated places established in 1711 Census-designated places in Fairfield County, Connecticut Census-designated places in Connecticut