This area was settled in 1737 as part of the Town of Kent. A separate ecclesiastical society called the Society of East Greenwich, established in 1750, led to the founding of a church in 1756 and a separate town in 1786. It was named in honor of General Joseph Warren, hero of the Revolutionary War, who was slain in the battle of Bunker Hill. In the first century and a half of its life, Warren sent forty-three of its men into that war and, though engaged mainly in farming, became known as an educational center. Five private schools and academies produced fifteen ministers and educators, among them Charles G. Finney, revivalist and president of Oberlin College from 1851 to 1866, and Julian M. Sturtevant, minister and president of Illinois College from 1844 to 1876. During a half century commencing in 1772, more than 2837 Warren emigrants took part in settling new territories to the north and west. The population increased to approximately 1100 by 1810 but fell to a low of 303 in 1930 with the decline of agriculture and the local iron industry. Subsequent regrowth to 990 by 1979 was based on residential development and recreational features including Lake Waramaug, several inns, and a state park and forest. In 1963, Warren resident Eric Sloane, a well-known American artist and author, revived nationwide the custom of celebrating the nation's independence by the simultaneous ringing of bells on July 4th, centered on the bell in the steeple of the Warren Congregational Church. The old one-room brick schoolhouse, built in 1784, was in continuous use for 140 years, and in 1968 Frank Reinhold presented it to the town. The Brick School and the Warren Academy have been restored and furnished with authentic articles of an earlier time and are open by appointment for public visitation.