Beacon Falls is a town in western New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. It lies in the southwestern part of the state, and is bisected by the Naugatuck River. The population was 6,000 at the 2020 census, down from 6,049 at the 2010 census. Founding The area that was to become Beacon Falls was first inhabited by tribal communities of Paugusetts and Paugusucks and was originally known as Nyumps. Early history texts indicate that a former Native American slave called Toby bought much of the land that was to become the town on September 7, 1693, for 10 pounds and a barrel of cider. Settlers from Derby, Connecticut moved to the area in 1678 and the town was incorporated in 1871 on lands carved from the neighboring towns of Bethany, Seymour, Naugatuck and Oxford. The town was named for Beacon Hill, from which a small waterfall descended. History The history of Beacon Falls is tied to the series of manufacturing concerns that operated in the town's impressive brick factory buildings on North Main Street, adjacent to the Naugatuck River. The last and most successful of those concerns was the Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries rubber manufacturing thrived in the Lower Naugatuck Valley. This followed the invention and 1844 patent, by Connecticut native Charles Goodyear, of a chemical process called vulcanization to convert natural rubber into a durable, flexible, waterproof material. In the 1850s the American Hard Rubber Company built a brick factory in Beacon Falls, utilizing water power from the Naugatuck River. The company made buttons, whip sockets, and powder flasks. After that company was acquired and moved to Long Island, the empty brick building was bought by the Home Woolen Company, which in the 1860s expanded and manufactured woolen shawls, popular at the time with men, women and Civil War soldiers. The Home Woolen Company operated for 20-plus years until it became insolvent in 1887. The 1898 inception of the Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company lay in the decision of George Lewis, president of the Goodyear Metallic Rubber Shoe Co. of Naugatuck, Connecticut, and his son Tracy S. Lewis, secretary and treasurer of that company, to resign and start a new business together. In 1898 the two Lewis men bought the Home Woolen Company facility and started the Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company. The new company enjoyed great success for over