Greenwich's story begins on July 18, 1640, when settlers Robert Feake and Captain Daniel Patrick purchased land from the local Wiechquaesqueek people for what was recorded as twenty-five English coats, in the area now known as Old Greenwich. The land briefly fell under Dutch control before returning to Connecticut in 1650, and Greenwich was organized as its own separate township in 1655.

What is now Greenwich Point Park was originally called Elizabeth's Neck, named by Elizabeth Feake, whose family home, built around 1645, is believed to be the oldest surviving house in Greenwich. During the Revolutionary War, the elevated neighborhood of Round Hill, standing 550 feet above the Sound, served as a lookout point for the Continental Army.

By the late 1800s and into the 1900s, Greenwich had become a favored retreat for wealthy New Yorkers and home to notable American Impressionist painters, a legacy still visible in its historic districts and grand estates. The town formally acquired what had become known as Tod's Point in 1945, following a close town vote, securing what remains one of its most treasured public spaces today.