Newtown was the English name of the old village now called Elmhurst.
English Puritans founded the village in 1652 as Middelburgh, after the capital of the Dutch province of Zeeland. When the British took over New Netherland in 1664 they renamed it New Town, later simplified to Newtown; it became Elmhurst in 1897. Grand Avenue continues Brooklyn's Grand Street across Newtown Creek and ends here at Queens Boulevard.