East Windsor's history was shaped by places where people gathered for a common purpose, often reflecting the town's east and west sides. An excerpt from an 1898 atlas said that East Windsor had always appeared content to drowse and dream, asking nothing, desiring nothing, content to live within it. The town well stood in Old Town on Main Street, now Old Redwood Highway, where many people and horses drank from its water. The original Windsor Hotel was also in Old Town Windsor and was one of three hotels that operated in Windsor before the 20th century. Europeans first occupied Windsor around 1850.