The population of the town of Newburgh was only 4,246 in 1900 and 6,092 in 1940, on the eve of World War II. However, after World War II the population skyrocketed as more and more farmland and forestland was converted to housing developments. Many of the new residents of the town in the 1940s and 1950s were World War II veterans who were able to purchase their own homes under the provisions of the G.I. Bill. Also, the booming economy after World War II allowed many families to afford to purchase automobiles, which made residency in the suburbs away from central city cores practical for the first time. In addition, parents of baby boomer children desired to raise these children in a suburban or rural atmosphere as opposed to crowded city life.