New Square is named after the Ukrainian town Skvyra, where the Skverer Hasidim originated. The founders intended to name the settlement "New Skvir", but a typist's error anglicized the name. New Square was established in 1954, when the Zemach David Corporation, representing Skverer Grand Rabbi Yakov Yosef Twersky, purchased a dairy farm near Spring Valley, New York, in the town of Ramapo. At that time, the Skverer community lived in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn, in New York City. Construction began in 1956, and the first four families moved to New Square in December 1956. In 1958, the settlement had 68 houses.