Editing Newton, Iowa (section)

===Early history===
[[File:Jasper County, Iowa Courthouse.jpg|thumb|left|[[Jasper County, Iowa|Jasper County]] Courthouse.]]
Newton was founded in 1846 as Newton City, then shortened to Newton in 1847 and incorporated as a city in 1857.  It was named to pair with Jasper County, following a common American naming scheme at the time in honor of [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] soldiers [[John Newton (soldier)|John Newton]] and [[William Jasper]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/FEATURES/Texas_town_names/Jasper_and_Newton.htm|title=Jasper & Newton, American Revolutionary War heroes and American towns and county names|website=www.texasescapes.com|access-date=2019-10-24}}</ref> In the late 19th century, Newton's growth was fueled by the development of coal mines in the region. The first significant mine in the area was the Couch mine of the Jasper County Coal and Railway Company, opened in the 1870s. For a while, it was the largest mine in the county, producing 70 tons per day. William Snooks opened a [[shaft mining|mine]] near Newton in 1886.<ref>James H. Lees, History of Coal Mining in Iowa, Chapter III of [https://books.google.com/books?id=1BUMAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA415&pg=PA564 Annual Report, 1908], Iowa Geological Survey, 1909, pages 564–565.</ref> In the early 20th century, large scale mining in the Newton area had declined, but there were still several mines in the area that were worked intermittently.<ref>Henry Hinds, The Coal Deposits of Iowa, Chapter I of [https://books.google.com/books?id=1BUMAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA415&pg=PA161 Annual Report, 1908], Iowa Geological Survey, 1909, pages 161–163</ref>