Shenandoah Valley and Newtown's central location attracted heavy traffic through the region, and wagon-making emerged as an important industry for the town; Newtown artisans supplied wagons throughout the state. By 1830, the town's population had reached 800. In the late 1850s, free blacks began a settlement about a mile east of town which became known as "Crossroads" or "Freetown", which lasted until the time of the Civil War. After the January 1, 1863, Emancipation Proclamation, most of the newly freed slaves and many of the already free blacks left the area.