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Learn About Hartford CT

The state capital of Connecticut is Hartford. Connecticut’s 2020 census estimates indicate that Hartford is the fourth-largest city in the state, with a 2020 population of 121,054, behind New Haven, Bridgeport, and Stamford.

Hartford was founded in 1635 and is one of the oldest cities in the nation. A few of Hartford’s notables include the oldest public art museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum, its oldest publicly funded park, Bushnell Park, its oldest continuously published newspaper, the Hartford Courant, and its second-oldest secondary school, Hartford Public High School. Additionally, it is the site of the Mark Twain House.

After the American Civil War, Hartford was the wealthiest city in the United States for several decades. Currently, it is one of the poorest cities in the US, with three of every ten families living below the poverty line. 

A major employer in the region, Hartford is the “Insurance Capital of the World. “The area is also known for its education, healthcare, and services sectors.

Various Native American tribes lived in or around Hartford, all Algonquian peoples. 

Early European exploration of the area is attributed to the Dutch under Adriaen Block, who sailed up the Connecticut in 1614. Fur traders from New Amsterdam returned to the area in 1623 to establish a trading post and fortify the area for the Dutch West India Company. Originally, the site was located on the south bank of the Park River in the modern-day neighborhood of Sheldon/Charter Oak. It was called Fort Hoop or the “House of Hope.” 

Jacob Van Curler purchased the land around Fort Hoop from the Pequot chief for a small sum in 1633. Several families lived here, as well as a few dozen soldiers. By 1654, the fort had been abandoned, but today the area is called Dutch Point; Huyshope Avenue is named after the Dutch fort “House of Hope.”. 

An English settlement was established in 1636 near the present-day Downtown area and the Sheldon/Charter Oak neighborhoods a short distance from Fort Hoop.

A group of 100 Puritan settlers led by Thomas Hooker and Samuel Stone and Governor John Haynes started their settlement just north of the Dutch fort after a trek from Newtown, Massachusetts Bay Colony (now Cambridge, MA).

Hartford was initially called Newtown but was renamed in 1637 to honor Stone’s hometown of Hertford, England. The town of Windsor was also established in 1633 by Holker. 

Hartford’s name is derived from the place where deer cross or the ford where harts cross.

Connecticut’s Royal Charter of 1662 was hidden under an old white oak tree in the original settlement area to protect it from an English governor-general’s confiscation. Connecticut adopted the oak tree as its state emblem. The Charter Oak Monument lies at the corner of Charter Oak Place and Charter Oak Avenue, a historic street.

A Hartford native named Samuel Colt perfected the precision manufacturing process that enabled him to produce thousands of interchangeable parts revolvers around 1850. Hartford became the center of production for a wide selection of products over the next several decades as various industries adopted and adapted these techniques.

Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company opened in 1852 along the now-buried Park River, in the present-day neighborhood of Frog Hollow, just three years after Colt’s first factory opened. Their factory marked the beginning of the transformation of marshy farmland into a major industrial area. The road leading from town to the factory used to be known as Rifle Lane; it was later renamed College Street and then Capitol Avenue.

Francis A. Pratt and Amos Whitney founded the Pratt & Whitney Company in Hartford in 1860. During the American Civil War, the company built a large factory that produced sewing machines and gun-making machinery for use by the Union Army. In 1925, the company began designing aircraft engines.

The city has a total area of 18.0 square miles, based on the United States Census Bureau.

There are six towns bordering Hartford: West Hartford, Newington, Wethersfield, East Hartford, Bloomfield, South Windsor, Glastonbury, and Windsor. Hartford and East Hartford are separated by the Connecticut River, which is located on the east side of the city.

Initially, the Park River divided Hartford into northern and southern sections and was a major part of Bushnell Park, but flood control projects in the 1940s virtually buried the river. The former course of the river can still be observed on some of the roads built in its place, including Jewell Street and the Conlin-Whitehead Highway.

There is a central business district as well as the State Capitol, the Old State House, and several museums and shops downtown. A confluence of the north and south branches of the Park River gives Parkville, the home of Real Art Ways, its name. Located near Downtown, Frog Hollow is home to Pope Park and Trinity College, one of the nation’s oldest institutions of higher learning.

The Asylum Hill area is a mix of residential and commercial buildings, including the homes of Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Hartford Golf Club is near the West End, which includes the Governor’s residence, Elizabeth Park, and the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Sheldon Charter Oak is known for the Charter Oak and the successor monument and the former Colt headquarters, and Samuel Colt’s family estate, Armsmear.

Keney Park and many of the city’s oldest and most ornate homes can be found in the North East neighborhood.

There is a substantial Italian community in Hartford’s South End, also known as “Little Italy.”

Hartford Hospital is in South Green.

Connecticut-Brainard Airport and Hartford’s industrial community are located in the South Meadows.

Retail strips, car dealerships, and XFINITY Theatre are all located in North Meadows.

In Blue Hills, the University of Hartford is located and has the largest number of Jamaican-Americans per capita in the United States.

There are other neighborhoods in Hartford, such as Barry Square, Behind the Rocks, Clay Arsenal, South West, and Upper Albany, which is dotted with Caribbean restaurants and specialty shops.

According to the 2010 census, 124,775 people were living in the city, 44,986 households and 27,171 families. According to the American Community Survey’s 2019 estimates, the population increased to 123,089. In the 2020 United States census, 121,054 people were counted.

In 2010, 29.8% of the city’s residents were white, 38.7% were African American, 0.6% were Native Americans, 2.8% were Asian, 0% were Pacific Islanders, 23.9% were from other races, and 4.2% were from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino Americans, primarily Puerto Rican, constituted 43.4% of the population, an increase from 32% in 1990.

A medical and research center, Hartford is home to several educational institutions. In Hartford itself, several hospitals include Hartford Hospital, The Institute of Living, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, and Saint Francis Hospital & Medical Center (which merged with Mount Sinai Hospital in 1990).

The highways I-84, which connects Scranton with I-90 in Sturbridge, just over the Massachusetts border, and I-91, which runs along the Connecticut River eventually to Canada, intersect in downtown Hartford.

Two highways serve the city of Hartford in addition to Interstates 84 and 91: Route 2, an expressway that connects downtown Hartford with Westerly, passing through Norwich and the Foxwoods Resort Casino.

The Wilbur Cross Highway portion of Route 15 runs along the city’s southeastern edge near Brainard Airport. The Conlin-Whitehead Highway also provides direct access to the Capitol Area of downtown Hartford from I-91. Main St. Bridge is a historic bridge over the highway.

Hartford Union Station was built in 1889. Amtrak offers service to Vermont via Springfield and southward to New Haven from Hartford. Numerous bus companies also operate at the station. As well as the Hartford Line, a commuter rail service that serves communities along Interstate 91 and runs between New Haven and Springfield, Hartford Union Station is also served by the Hartford Line.

Hartford’s zip codes are 06101, 06102, 06103, 06104, 06105, 06106, 06107, 06108, 06110, 06111, 06112, 06114, 06115, 06120, 06123, 06126, 06132, 06134, 06140, 06141, 06142, 06143, 06144, 06145, 06146, 06147, 06150, 06151, 06152, 06154, 06155, 06156, 06160, 06161, 06167, 06176, 06180, 06183.

Hartford’s GPS coordinates are 41.7658° N, 72.6734° W.