In 1738, Amity Parish in New Haven and Milford, including most of present-day Woodbridge and Bethany, was incorporated by the General Assembly of Connecticut Colony. The earliest schoolhouse was built in 1750 in the northern half of Amity Parish at Rocky Corner, near the intersection of Meyer and Old Amity Roads. In 1762, the northern part of the parish was made a distinct ecclesiastical society and named Bethany for the Biblical village at the foot of the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem. In 1832, Bethany Parish was separated from Woodbridge and incorporated as the Town of Bethany. The Straitsville area was taken in 1844, together with parts of Oxford and Waterbury, to become Naugatuck, and in 1871 the western area became part of Beacon Falls, incorporated with portions added from Oxford, Naugatuck, and Seymour. Some architecture from before the town's incorporation still stands nearby and is attributed to David Hoadley of Waterbury, a self-taught builder-architect who became a leading designer of church buildings in the first decades of the 19th century. His domestic skill appears in the Beecher or Hoadley House of 1807, with very fine exterior detail and detailing in the central hall and interior rooms. Christ Church, Episcopal, dating from 1809, was also built by Hoadley, and during its construction services were held in the upstairs ballroom of the Beecher House. The church remains little changed on the outside, though its interior reflects extensive alterations made with changing taste over the last one hundred years. United North Church of 1814 on the New Haven Green is regarded as the high point of Hoadley's achievement.