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is a city in the county seat of Jasper County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 15,579. It is the home of Maytag Dairy Farms and was formerly home to the Maytag Corporation's corporate headquarters until the Whirlpool Corporation acquired it in 2006. It is also the location of Iowa Speedway.
Newton was founded in 1850 and incorporated as a city in 1857. It has traditionally been a manufacturing community, much of its growth derived from the washing machine industry. Its most distinctive landmark, the Jasper County Courthouse, was built in 1911.
Newton entered the national stage in 1938 when martial law was declared during a strike at the Maytag Washing Machine Company. Iowa governor Nelson Kraschel ordered the Iowa National Guard to protect the company with tanks and machine guns ready against the workers. Maytag company beat the strike and forced workers to return to work with a 10% pay cut.
Around 2004-2005, the town's manufacturing workforce was hurt by layoffs at the Maytag Corporation, and Whirlpool's acquisition of Maytag in early 2006 led to speculation over the future of the Newton plant. On May 10, 2006, Whirlpool announced that it would close the Newton plant and corporate offices in the fall of 2007. The plant employed about 1,000 workers and the corporate offices employed about 800 at the time of the announcement.
In January 2007 Whirlpool said in a statement that it sold most of the Maytag headquarters complex to Iowa Telecommunications Services Inc., a Newton-based telephone company which would use the complex to consolidate employees in a single location.
Although the company did not disclose financial details, Newton economic development officials said Iowa Telecom paid $1.5 million for the buildings assessed at more than $12 million.
In December 2007, TPI Composites announced plans to open a plant to manufacture massive wind turbine blades , which are now in production . President Barack Obama visited the TPI Composites plant on 22 April 2009, that year's Earth Day.