The lands of Beacon Falls first appear in history when Milford was settled in 1639. Beacon Hill Brook formed Milford’s northern boundary and separated the hunting grounds of the Paugasuck and Tunxis Indians. In 1675 the land became part of Derby. Captain Ebenezer Johnson, the first landowner, purchased three parcels in the vicinity of Pinesbridge in 1678, and Ensign Riggs and Jeremiah Johnson bought land in 1680. Toby’s Mountain, also called High Rock, was purchased in 1693 by an Indian named Toby, who had been a slave of Captain Johnson for twelve years and was freed by him in 1688. The main part of town, called Nyumps, was purchased in 1709. About 1835, Thomas Sanford manufactured some of the earliest American-made sulphur matches here. Beacon Falls was first mentioned in the Acts of the General Assembly in 1864, when a joint school district was formed and a two-room schoolhouse was built on this site. The Town of Beacon Falls was incorporated on June 30, 1871, from portions of the towns of Naugatuck, Bethany, Seymour, and Oxford. Its name came from Beacon Hill, where a small but beautiful waterfall descended.