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Hartford is the
capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses t ...
of the U.S. state of
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...
. It was the seat of
Hartford County Hartford County is a county located in the north central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. According to the 2020 census, the population was 899,498, making it the second-most populous county in Connecticut. Hartford County contains th ...
until Connecticut disbanded
county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the
2010 United States census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving ...
have indicated that Hartford is the fourth-largest city in Connecticut with a 2020 population of 121,054, behind the coastal cities of
Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonn ...
,
New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
, and Stamford. Hartford was founded in 1635 and is among the oldest cities in the United States. It is home to the country's oldest public art museum ( Wadsworth Atheneum), the oldest publicly funded park (
Bushnell Park Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut is the oldest publicly funded park in the United States. It was conceived by the Reverend Horace Bushnell in the mid-1850s at a time when the need for open public spaces was just starting to be recognize ...
), the oldest continuously published newspaper (the '' Hartford Courant''), and the second-oldest secondary school ( Hartford Public High School). It is also home to the Mark Twain House, where the author wrote his most famous works and raised his family, among other historically significant sites. Mark Twain wrote in 1868, "Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see this is the chief." Hartford was the richest city in the United States for several decades following the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
. Since 2015, it is one of the poorest cities in the U.S., with 3 out of every 10 families living below the poverty threshold. In sharp contrast, the Greater Hartford metropolitan statistical area was ranked 32nd of 318 metropolitan areas in total economic production and 8th out of 280 metropolitan statistical areas in per capita income in 2015. Nicknamed the "Insurance Capital of the World", the city holds high sufficiency as a global city, as home to the headquarters of many insurance companies, the region's major industry. Other prominent industries include the services, education and healthcare industries. Hartford coordinates certain Hartford-Springfield regional development matters through the Knowledge Corridor Economic Partnership.


History

Various tribes lived in or around Hartford, all Algonquian peoples. These included the Podunks, mostly east of the Connecticut River; the Poquonocks north and west of Hartford; the Massacoes in the
Simsbury Simsbury is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 24,517 at the 2020 census. The town was incorporated as Connecticut's 21st town in May 1670. History Early history At the beginning of the 17th century, th ...
area; the Tunxis tribe in West Hartford and Farmington; the Wangunks to the south; and the Saukiog in Hartford itself.


Colonial Hartford

The first Europeans known to have explored the area were the Dutch under Adriaen Block, who sailed up the Connecticut in 1614. Dutch fur traders from New Amsterdam returned in 1623 with a mission to establish a trading post and fortify the area for the Dutch West India Company. The original site was located on the south bank of the Park River in the present-day Sheldon/Charter Oak neighborhood. This fort was called
Fort Hoop House of Hope ( nl, Huys de Hoop), also known as Fort Good Hope ( nl, Fort de Goede Hoop), was a redoubt and factory in the seventeenth-century Dutch colony of New Netherland. The trading post was located at modern-day Hartford, Connecticut. H ...
or the "House of Hope." In 1633, Jacob Van Curler formally bought the land around Fort Hoop from the Pequot chief for a small sum. It was home to perhaps a couple families and a few dozen soldiers. The fort was abandoned by 1654, but the area is known today as Dutch Point; the name of the Dutch fort "House of Hope" is reflected in the name of Huyshope Avenue. A significant reason for establishment of the Dutch trading post was to better control the flow of wampum, the de facto currency of New Netherlands and portions of New England, to and from valuable Native American fur traders. The Dutch outpost and the tiny contingent of Dutch soldiers who were stationed there did little to check the English migration, and the Dutch soon realized that they were vastly outnumbered. The House of Hope remained an outpost, but it was steadily swallowed up by waves of English settlers. In 1650, Peter Stuyvesant met with English representatives to negotiate a permanent boundary between the Dutch and English colonies; the line that they agreed on was more than west of the original settlement. The English began to arrive in 1636, settling upstream from Fort Hoop near the present-day Downtown and Sheldon/Charter Oak neighborhoods.
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
pastors
Thomas Hooker Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent English colonial leader and Congregational minister, who founded the Connecticut Colony after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was known as an outstanding spea ...
and Samuel Stone, along with Governor John Haynes, led 100 settlers with 130 head of cattle in a trek from Newtown in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (now
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
) and started their settlement just north of the Dutch fort. The settlement was originally called Newtown, but it was changed to Hartford in 1637 in honor of Stone's hometown of Hertford, England. Hooker also created the nearby town of Windsor in 1633. The etymology of ''Hartford'' is the ford where '' harts'' cross, or "deer crossing." As the Puritan minister in Hartford, Thomas Hooker wielded a great deal of power; in 1638, he delivered a sermon that inspired the writing of the
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut The Fundamental Orders were adopted by the Connecticut Colony council on . The fundamental orders describe the government set up by the Connecticut River towns, setting its structure and powers. They wanted the government to have access to the ...
, which provided a framework for Connecticut's separation for Massachusetts Bay Colony and the formation of a civil government. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut were the legal basis for Connecticut Colony until the 1662 royal charter granted to Connecticut by Charles II. The original settlement area contained the site of the Charter Oak, an old white oak tree in which colonists hid Connecticut's Royal Charter of 1662 to protect it from confiscation by an English governor-general. The state adopted the oak tree as the emblem on the Connecticut state quarter. The Charter Oak Monument is located at the corner of Charter Oak Place, a historic street, and Charter Oak Avenue.


19th century


Political turmoil

On December 15, 1814, delegates from the five
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
states (
Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...
was still part of
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
at that time) gathered at the Hartford Convention to discuss New England's possible
secession Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics l ...
from the United States. During the early 19th century, the Hartford area was a center of abolitionist activity, and the most famous abolitionist family was the Beechers. The Reverend Lyman Beecher was an important Congregational minister known for his anti-slavery sermons. His daughter Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote '' Uncle Tom's Cabin''; her brother Henry Ward Beecher was a noted clergyman who vehemently opposed slavery and supported the temperance movement and women's suffrage. The Stowes' sister
Isabella Beecher Hooker Isabella Beecher Hooker (February 22, 1822 – January 25, 1907) was a leader, lecturer and social activist in the American suffragist movement. Early life Isabella Holmes Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, the fifth child and sec ...
was a leading member of the women's rights movement. In 1860, Hartford was the site of the first " Wide Awakes", abolitionist supporters of
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...
. These supporters organized torch-light parades that were both political and social events, often including fireworks and music, in celebration of Lincoln's visit to the city. This type of event caught on and eventually became a staple of mid-to-late 19th-century campaigning. Hartford was a major manufacturing city from the 19th century until the mid-20th century. During the Industrial Revolution into the mid-20th century, the Connecticut River Valley cities produced many major precision manufacturing innovations. Among these was Hartford's pioneer bicycle and automobile maker
Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
. Many factories have been closed or relocated, or have reduced operations, as in nearly all former Northern manufacturing cities.


Rise of a major manufacturing center

Around 1850, Hartford native Samuel Colt perfected the precision manufacturing process that enabled the mass production of thousands of his revolvers with interchangeable parts. A variety of industries adopted and adapted these techniques over the next several decades, and Hartford became the center of production for a wide array of products, including: Colt, Richard Gatling, and John Browning firearms; Weed sewing machines; Columbia bicycles; Pope automobiles; and leading typewriter manufacturers
Royal Typewriter Company The Royal Typewriter Company is a manufacturer of typewriters founded in January 1904. It was headquartered in New York City with its factory in Hartford, Connecticut. History The Royal Typewriter Company was founded by Edward B. Hess and Lew ...
and Underwood Typewriter Company which together made Hartford the “Typewriter Capitol of the World” during the first half of the 20th century. The Pratt & Whitney Company was founded in Hartford in 1860 by Francis A. Pratt and Amos Whitney. They built a substantial factory in which the company manufactured a wide range of machine tools, including tools for the makers of sewing machines, and gun-making machinery for use by the Union Army during the American Civil War. In 1925, the company expanded into aircraft engine design at its Hartford factory. Just three years after Colt's first factory opened, the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company set up shop in 1852 at a nearby site along the now-buried Park River, located in the present-day neighborhood of Frog Hollow. Their factory heralded the beginning of the area's transformation from marshy farmland into a major industrial zone. The road leading from town to the factory was called Rifle Lane; the name was later changed to College Street and then Capitol Avenue. A century earlier, mills had located along the Park River because of the water power, but by the 1850s water power was approaching obsolescence. Sharps located there specifically to take advantage of the railroad line that had been constructed alongside the river in 1838. The Sharps Rifle Company failed in 1870, and the Weed Sewing Machine Company took over its factory. The invention of a new type of sewing machine led to a new application of mass production after the principles of interchangeability were applied to clocks and guns. The Weed Company played a major role in making Hartford one of three machine tool centers in New England and even outranked the Colt Armory in nearby Coltsville in size. Weed eventually became the birthplace of both the bicycle and automobile industries in Hartford. Industrialist Albert Pope was inspired by a British-made, high-wheeled bicycle (called a velocipede) that he saw at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, and he bought patent rights for bicycle production in the United States. He wanted to contract out his first order, however, so he approached George Fairfield of Weed Sewing Machine Company, who produced Pope's first run of bicycles in 1878. Bicycles proved to be a huge commercial success, and production expanded in the Weed factory, with Weed making every part but the tires. Demand for bicycles overshadowed the failing sewing machine market by 1890, so Pope bought the Weed factory, took over as its president, and renamed it the Pope Manufacturing Company. The bicycle boom was short-lived, peaking near the turn of the century when more and more consumers craved individual automobile travel, and Pope's company suffered financially from over-production amidst falling demand. In an effort to save his business, Pope opened a motor carriage department and turned out electric carriages, beginning with the "Mark III" in 1897. His venture might have made Hartford the capital of the automobile industry were it not for the ascendancy of Henry Ford and a series of pitfalls and patent struggles that outlived Pope himself. In 1876, Hartford Machine Screw was granted a charter "for the purpose of manufacturing screws, hardware and machinery of every variety." The basis for its incorporation was the invention of the first single-spindle automatic screw machine. For its next four years, the new firm occupied one of Weed's buildings, milling thousands of screws daily on over 50 machines. Its president was George Fairfield, who ran Weed, and its superintendent was Christopher Spencer, one of Connecticut's most versatile inventors. Soon Hartford Machine Screw outgrew its quarters and built a new factory adjacent to Weed, where it remained until 1948.


20th century

On the week of April 12, 1909, the Connecticut River reached a record flood stage of 24.5 feet (7.47 meters) above the low-water mark, flooding the city of Hartford and doing great damage. On July 6, 1944, Hartford was the scene of one of the worst fire disasters in the history of the United States. Claiming the lives of 168 persons, mostly children and their mothers, and injuring several hundred more. It occurred at a matinee performance of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus on Barbour Street in the city's north end and became known as the Hartford Circus Fire. After
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, many residents of Puerto Rico moved to Hartford. Starting in the late 1950s, the suburbs ringing Hartford began to grow and flourish and the capital city began a long decline. Insurance giant Connecticut General (now CIGNA) moved to a new, modern campus in the suburb of Bloomfield. Constitution Plaza had been hailed as a model of urban renewal, but it gradually became a concrete office park. Once-flourishing department stores shut down, such as Brown Thomson,
Sage-Allen Sage-Allen was a mid-market department store chain based in Hartford, Connecticut. The store was a fixture in southern New England and anchored a number of smaller local and regional shopping centers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and, later, Ne ...
, and G. Fox & Co., as suburban malls grew in popularity, such as Westfarms and Buckland Hills. In 1997, the city lost its professional hockey franchise, with the Hartford Whalers moving to Raleigh, North Carolina—despite an increase in season ticket sales and an offer from the state for a new arena. In 2005, a developer from Newton, Massachusetts tried unsuccessfully to bring an NHL team back to Hartford and house them in a new, publicly funded stadium. Hartford experienced problems as the population shrank 11 percent during the 1990s. Only Flint, Michigan;
Gary, Indiana Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along th ...
; St. Louis, Missouri; and
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
, Maryland experienced larger population losses during the decade. However, the population has increased since the 2000 Census.The estimated population as of 2008 is 124,062 – an increase of 2,484 from the 2000 Census
US Census: Population Finder: hartford city, CT
/ref> In 1987,
Carrie Saxon Perry Carrie Saxon Perry (August 30, 1931 – November 22, 2018) was an American politician from Connecticut. She was notable as the first African American woman to be elected mayor of a major New England city – Hartford, Connecticut – in 1987. She ...
was elected mayor of Hartford, becoming the first female African-American mayor of a major American city. Riverfront Plaza was opened in 1999, connecting the riverfront and the downtown area for the first time since the 1960s.


21st century

A significant number of cultural events and performances take place every year at Mortensen Plaza (Riverfront Recapture Organization) by the banks of the Connecticut River. These events are held outdoors and include live music, festivals, dance, arts and crafts. Hartford also has a vibrant theater scene with major Broadway productions at the Bushnell Theater as well as performances at the Hartford Stage and TheaterWorks (City Arts). In July 2017, Hartford considered filing
Chapter 9 bankruptcy Chapter 9, Title 11, United States Code is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, available exclusively to municipalities and assisting them in the restructuring of their debt. On July 18, 2013, Detroit, Michigan became the largest cit ...
. After years of shrinking population base and high pension obligations, a $65 Million Dollar budget gap was projected for the year of 2018. The city had cut budget of public services and gotten union concessions however these measures did not balance the budget. A state bailout later that year kept the city from filing for bankruptcy. Downtown Hartford is busy during the day with commuters, but tends to be quiet in the evenings and weekends. However, more residential and retail development in recent years has begun changing the pattern.


Geography

According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...
, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (3.67%) is water. The city of Hartford is bordered by the towns of West Hartford, Newington, Wethersfield,
East Hartford East Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 51,045 at the 2020 census. The town is located on the east bank of the Connecticut River, directly across from Hartford, Connecticut. It is home to aerospa ...
, Bloomfield, South Windsor,
Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbur ...
, and Windsor. The Connecticut River forms the boundary between Hartford and East Hartford, and is located on the east side of the city. The Park River originally divided Hartford into northern and southern sections and was a major part of
Bushnell Park Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut is the oldest publicly funded park in the United States. It was conceived by the Reverend Horace Bushnell in the mid-1850s at a time when the need for open public spaces was just starting to be recognize ...
, but the river was nearly completely enclosed and buried by flood control projects in the 1940s. The former course of the river can still be seen in some of the roadways that were built in the river's place, such as Jewell Street and the Conlin-Whitehead Highway.


Climate

The
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
categorizes Hartford as falling within either the humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') using the −3 °C (26.6 °F) isotherm, or the hot-summer
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...
( Köppen ''Dfa'') under the 0 °C isotherm. Winters are cold, with periods of snow, while summers are hot and humid. Spring and fall are normally transition seasons, with weather ranging from warm to cool. The city of Hartford lies in
USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...
Hardiness zone 6a. Seasonally, the period from May through October is warm to hot in Hartford, with the hottest months being June, July, and August. In the summer months there is often high humidity and occasional (but brief) thundershowers. The cool to cold months are from November through April, with the coldest months in December, January, and February having average highs of and overnight lows of around . The average annual precipitation is approximately , which is distributed fairly evenly throughout the year. Hartford typically receives about of snow in an average winter—about 40% more than coastal Connecticut cities like New Haven, Stamford, and New London. Seasonal snowfall has ranged from during the winter of 1995–96 to in 1999–2000. During the summer, temperatures reach or exceed on an average of 17 days per year; in the winter, overnight temperatures can dip to a range of on at least one night a year. Tropical storms and hurricanes have also struck Hartford, although the occurrence of such systems is rare and is usually confined to the remnants of such storms. Hartford saw extensive damage from the 1938 New England Hurricane, as well as with Hurricane Irene in 2011. The highest officially recorded temperature is on July 22, 2011, and the lowest is on January 22, 1961; the record cold daily maximum is on December 2, 1917, while, conversely, the record warm daily minimum is on July 31, 1917.


Neighborhoods

The central business district, as well as the State Capitol, Old State House and a number of museums and shops are located Downtown. Parkville, home to
Real Art Ways Real Art Ways is a non-profit art space established in 1975. Located at 56 Arbor Street in the Parkville neighborhood of Hartford, Connecticut, Real Art Ways exhibits visual art, houses an independent cinema and presents live music, theater, and ...
, is named for the confluence of the north and the south branches of the Park River. Frog Hollow, in close proximity to Downtown, is home to Pope Park and
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
, which is one of the nation's oldest institutions of higher learning. Asylum Hill, a mixed residential and commercial area, houses the headquarters of several insurance companies as well as the historic homes of Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe. The West End, home to the Governor's residence, Elizabeth Park, and the
University of Connecticut School of Law The University of Connecticut School of Law (UConn Law) is the law school associated with the University of Connecticut and located in Hartford, Connecticut. It is the only public law school in Connecticut and one of only four in New England. In ...
, abuts the Hartford Golf Club. Sheldon Charter Oak is renowned as the location of the Charter Oak and its successor monument as well as the former Colt headquarters including Samuel Colt's family estate, Armsmear. The North East neighborhood is home to Keney Park and a number of the city's oldest and most ornate homes. The South End features "Little Italy" and was the home of Hartford's sizeable Italian community. South Green hosts
Hartford Hospital Hartford Hospital is an 938-bed acute care teaching hospital located in the South End of Hartford, Connecticut. Hartford Hospital was established in 1854. The hospital campus is located on Seymour Street in Hartford and is directly adjacent to t ...
. The South Meadows is the site of Hartford–Brainard Airport and Hartford's industrial community. The North Meadows has retail strips, car dealerships, and Comcast Theatre. Blue Hills is home of the
University of Hartford The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. The university attracts students from 48 states and 43 countries. The university and ...
and also houses the largest per capita of residents claiming Jamaican-American heritage in the United States. Other neighborhoods in Hartford include Barry Square, Behind the Rocks, Clay Arsenal, South West, and Upper Albany, which is dotted by many Caribbean restaurants and specialty stores.


Demographics

At the
2010 United States census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving ...
, there were 124,775 people, 44,986 households, and 27,171 families residing in the city. At the American Community Survey's 2019 estimates, the population increased to 123,088. The
2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...
tabulated a population of 121,054. Hartford's racial and ethnic makeup in 2019 was 36.0% White, 42.7% Black or African American, 23.7% some other race, 3.4% Asian, 1.2% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.3% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. The city's Hispanic and Latin American populace primarily consisted of Puerto Ricans (33.63%), Dominicans (3.0%), Mexicans (1.6%),
Cubans Cubans ( es, Cubanos) are people born in Cuba and people with Cuban citizenship. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic, religious and national backgrounds. Racial and ethnic groups Census The population of Cuba ...
(0.4%) and other Hispanic or Latinos at 5.63%. At the 2010 census, the racial and ethnic makeup of the city was 29.8%
white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 38.7% African American or Black, 0.6% Native American, 2.8% Asian, 0% Pacific Islander, 23.9% from other races, and 4.2% from two or more races. 43.4% of the population were Hispanic or Latin American, chiefly of Puerto Rican origin, up from 32% in 1990. Whites not of Latino background were 15.8% of the population in 2010, down from 63.9% in 1970. The Hispanic and Latin American population is concentrated on the south side, while African Americans are concentrated in the north. The white population is in the majority in only two census tracts: the downtown area and the far northwest. Many areas in the middle of the city, in Asylum Hill, and in West End, have a significant white population. More than three-quarters (77%) of the Hispanic population was Puerto Rican (with more than half born on the island of Puerto Rico) and fully 33.7% of all Hartford residents claimed Puerto Rican heritage. This is the second-largest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the
Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...
, behind only Holyoke, Massachusetts, approximately to the north along the Connecticut River. There are small but recognizable concentrations of persons with origins in Mexico, Colombia,
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
, and the
Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...
as well. Among the non-Hispanic population, the largest ancestry group is people from
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispa ...
; in 2014, Hartford was home to an estimated 11,400 Jamaicans, as well as another 1,200 people who are simply identified as West Indian Americans. There were 44,986 households, out of which 34.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 25.2% were married couples living together, 29.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.6% were non-families. 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 3.33. In the city, the population distribution skews young: 30.1% under the age of 18, 12.6% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 18.0% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.0 males. The median income for a household in the city was $20,820, and the median income for a family was $22,051. Males had a median income of $28,444 versus $26,131 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,428.


Economy

Hartford is a center for medical care, research, and education. Within the city of Hartford itself, hospitals include
Hartford Hospital Hartford Hospital is an 938-bed acute care teaching hospital located in the South End of Hartford, Connecticut. Hartford Hospital was established in 1854. The hospital campus is located on Seymour Street in Hartford and is directly adjacent to t ...
, The Institute of Living,
Connecticut Children's Medical Center Connecticut Children's Medical Center is a nationally ranked, independent, non-profit, pediatric acute care hospital located in Hartford, Connecticut. The hospital has 185 beds and is the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of the University of C ...
, and Saint Francis Hospital & Medical Center (which merged in 1990 with Mount Sinai Hospital). Hartford is also the historic international center of the insurance industry, with companies like Aetna,
Conning & Company Conning is a global investment management firm serving the insurance industry. Conning supports institutional investors, including pension plans, with investment and asset management products, risk modeling software, and industry research. Founde ...
, The Hartford, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, The Phoenix Companies, and Hartford Steam Boiler based in the city, and companies like Prudential Financial, Lincoln National Corporation, Sun Life Financial
Travelers Traveler(s), traveller(s), The Traveler(s), or The Traveller(s) may refer to: People Generic terms *One engaged in travel *Explorer, one who searches for the purpose of discovery of information or resources *Nomad, a member of a community withou ...
, United Healthcare and
Axa XL Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The Axa ...
having major operations in the city. Insurance giant Aetna had its headquarters in Hartford before announcing a relocation to New York City in July 2017. However, when CVS acquired Aetna a few months later, they announced Aetna would remain in Hartford for at least four years. The city is also home to the corporate headquarters of CareCentrix, Choice Merchant Solutions, Global Atlantic Financial Group, Hartford Healthcare, Insurity, LAZ Parking, ProPark Mobility, U.S. Fire Arms, and
Virtus Investment Partners Virtus Investment Partners, Inc. operates a multi-manager asset management business, comprising a number of individual affiliated managers, each having its own investment process and brand, and the services of unaffiliated subadvisers. History V ...
. In 2008, Sovereign Bank consolidated two bank branches as well as its regional headquarters in a nineteenth-century palazzo on Asylum Street.
Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...
and
People's United Financial People's United Financial, Inc. was an American bank holding company that owns People's United Bank. The bank operated 403 branches in Connecticut, southeastern New York State, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire. It is the second- ...
have a significant corporate presence in Hartford. In 2009, Northeast Utilities, a Fortune 500 company and New England's largest energy utility, announced it would establish its corporate headquarters downtown. Hartford is a burgeoning technology hub. In March 2018,
Infosys Infosys Limited is an Indian multinational information technology company that provides business consulting, information technology and outsourcing services. The company was founded in Pune and is headquartered in Bangalore. Infosys is ...
announced that opening of a new technology innovation hub in Hartford, creating up to 1,000 jobs by 2022. The Hartford technology innovation hub will focus on three key sectors- insurance, healthcare and manufacturing. Hartford has continued to attract technology companies including CGI Inc., Covr Financial Technologies, GalaxE. Solutions, HCL Technologies and Larsen & Toubro. Insurance software provided Insurity is also headquartered in the city. Local unemployment remains high in Hartford compared to other cities, the state, and the U.S. Of the four major cities in Connecticut (Bridgeport, New Haven, and Stamford), Hartford's unemployment rate of 7.5% in the fall of 2018 was the highest. As a whole, Connecticut's unemployment rate remains above 5% while the national rate hovers just under 4%.


Arts and culture


Cuisine

The first American cookbook was ''American Cookery, The Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry, and Vegetables'' by
Amelia Simmons Amelia Simmons is an American writer noted for publishing the '' American Cookery''. This cookbook is considered an important text that provided insights into the language and culinary practices of former colonists, helping shape American identit ...
, published in Hartford by Hudson & Goodwin in 1796. It was also the first cookbook to include recipes for squash and cornmeal, and it contained the first published recipe for pumpkin pie. It influenced a generation of American baking with a recipe for leavening bread with pearl ash. The full text of the book is available online. Hartford's cuisine was shaped by its early settlers, who brought Dutch and English influence which combined with that of the Saukiog Native Americans in the area. The first half of the 20th century brought significant Polish immigration and a number of Polish restaurants, some of which still operate today. Italian food wasn't always accepted; a long-time Hartford restaurant owner recollected that, "in 1938, you wouldn't put an Italian name on a restaurant sign because everyone would think you were associated with the Mafia." The New York Times remarked on the diversity of food available in Hartford in 1979, noting that "Hartford has undergone a culinary revolution in recent years." Hartford earned praise from Food and Wine as "a foodie destination". Food trucks are restricted to designated areas in the city, mostly along
Bushnell Park Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut is the oldest publicly funded park in the United States. It was conceived by the Reverend Horace Bushnell in the mid-1850s at a time when the need for open public spaces was just starting to be recognize ...
in Downtown Hartford and at farmers' markets. Food can today be found throughout the city from a very wide variety of ethnic influence. Hartford hosts a number of seasonal farmers' markets. The Hartford Regional Market is the largest market between New York City and Boston. In 2018, the Connecticut State Assembly voted to transfer ownership of the Regional Market to the Capital Region Development Authority, leaving its future somewhat uncertain. The seashore is less than away and has played a large role in Hartford's food habits. Recently there has been an
aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
boom in Long Island Sound, and as a result local kelp has started to appear on plates. The Connecticut River Valley is the most agriculturally productive region in New England and neighboring Wethersfield is renowned for its red onions, whose smell was said to waft into Hartford when production was at its historical height in the early 1800s. Hartford and the surrounding area have a vibrant craft beer, cider, and spirit industry, and there were more than two dozen breweries and distilleries in the Hartford area in 2017. The Connecticut Spirits Trail has a number of stops in Hartford and surrounding towns. These businesses all feed the city's collection of bars and nightclubs.


Points of interest

* Aetna building – Aetna building on Farmington Avenue is the world's largest colonial revival building, crowned by a tall Georgian tower inspired by the Old State House downtown. * Ancient Burying Ground – The oldest historic site in Hartford and the city's first graveyard. Many of Hartford's renowned residents and founders are buried there. * Armsmear – The Colt family estate. * Bulkeley Bridge – A stone-arch bridge spanning the Connecticut River and connecting the city of Hartford with East Hartford. *
Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts (formerly known as Bushnell Memorial Hall or simply The Bushnell ) is a performing arts venue at 166 Capitol Street in Hartford, Connecticut. Managed by a non-profit organization, it is marketed as Con ...
– The theater was constructed in the 1930s by the same architects who designed New York City's Radio City Music Hall. It features a Georgian Revival exterior and an Art Deco interior, with a large hand-painted mural suspended from the ceiling that is the largest of its kind in the United States. *
Bushnell Park Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut is the oldest publicly funded park in the United States. It was conceived by the Reverend Horace Bushnell in the mid-1850s at a time when the need for open public spaces was just starting to be recognize ...
– This park is located below the State Capitol and legislative office complex and consists of lawn, sculpture, fountains, and a historic carousel. It is the first park in the country purchased by a municipality for public use, and it was designed by Jacob Weidenmann. The Soldiers & Sailors Civil War Memorial Arch frames the northern entrance to the park, the first
triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, cr ...
in the United States. * Cathedral of St. Joseph – This limestone Roman Catholic cathedral was built in 1961 to replace its predecessor lost to fire. It is located west of downtown along Farmington Avenue in the Asylum Hill neighborhood and has large Parisian stained glass windows, an 8,000 pipe organ, and the largest ceramic tile mural of Christ in Glory in the world. * Center Church – The First Church of Christ in Hartford is located at 60 Gold Street and is also known as Center Church. It was founded by
Thomas Hooker Thomas Hooker (July 5, 1586 – July 7, 1647) was a prominent English colonial leader and Congregational minister, who founded the Connecticut Colony after dissenting with Puritan leaders in Massachusetts. He was known as an outstanding spea ...
. *
Cheney Building The R. and F. Cheney Building, also known as the Brown Thomson Building, is a commercial building designed by noted American architect H. H. Richardson. It is located at 942 Main Street, Hartford, Connecticut, and is now on the National Register o ...
– This building was designed in the late 19th century by
H. H. Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...
. It is located downtown on Main Street and once housed the Brown, Thomson & Co. department store. * Church of the Good Shepherd and Parish House - Commissioned by Elizabeth Jarvis Colt in 1866 and 1895, respectively, to commemorate her husband, Samuel Colt, and her son, Caldwell Hart Colt, and designed by Edward Tuckerman Potter. Both buildings are part of the Coltsville Historic District. *
City Place I City Place I is a 38-story, skyscraper at 185 Asylum Street in Hartford, Connecticut. It is the tallest building in the state, and two meters taller than Travelers Tower, built in 1919. City Place I was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, ...
– The tallest building in Connecticut at 38 stories, located at 185 Asylum Street. * Colt Armory – The complex was once the main factory building of
Colt's Manufacturing Company Colt's Manufacturing Company, LLC (CMC, formerly Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company) is an American firearms manufacturer, founded in 1855 by Samuel Colt and is now a subsidiary of Czech holding company Colt CZ Group. It is the suc ...
, topped with a blue and gold dome. It is currently being redeveloped and renovated and will feature apartments, retail space, and office space. * Xfinity Theater (formerly the Meadows Music Theater) – An indoor/outdoor amphitheater-style performance venue located in the North Meadows. *
Connecticut Science Center The Connecticut Science Center is a nine-story museum located on the Connecticut River in Hartford, Connecticut designed by César Pelli & Associates, which opened on June 12, 2009. The building measures a total of , including of interactive exhib ...
– 154,000 square foot (14,000 m2), nine-story, $165 million museum, designed by César Pelli and opened on June 12, 2009. * Connecticut State Library – The building also contains the Museum of Connecticut History and a number of galleries devoted to Samuel Colt memorabilia, located in the hill district near the State Capitol atop Bushnell Park. *
Connecticut Convention Center The Connecticut Convention Center is a convention center located in downtown Hartford, Connecticut, United States, overlooking the Connecticut River. History The center opened on June 2 2005. It was designed by Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback ...
– The 540,000 square foot (42,000 m2) convention center is now open and overlooks the Connecticut River and the central business district. Attached to the center is a 409-room, 22-story Marriott Hotel.
ConnectiCon ConnectiCon is an annual multi-genre convention dedicated to "a celebration of pop culture - everything from anime, to science fiction, comic books and card games." Events The convention includes 24-hour screening rooms of full-length features a ...
is hosted every summer at the convention center. *
Connecticut Governor's Mansion The Connecticut Governor's Residence serves as the official home of the governor of Connecticut. It is located at 990 Prospect Avenue in Hartford. The Connecticut Governor's Residence has served as the official residence since 1945. The house w ...
– An imposing Georgian revival mansion situated near the highest point in the City of Hartford on upper Prospect Avenue. *
Connecticut Opera Connecticut Opera was a professional, non-profit, opera company based in Hartford, Connecticut, and a member of OPERA America. The company presented three fully staged opera productions during an annual season. It was founded in 1942 under the dir ...
– Founded in 1942 and performing three fully staged operas per season, primarily at The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford. *
Connecticut State Capitol The Connecticut State Capitol is located north of Capitol Avenue and south of Bushnell Park in Hartford, the capital of Connecticut. The building houses the Connecticut General Assembly; the upper house, the State Senate, and lower house, the ...
– This large
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
-inspired building is located atop Bushnell Park and features many statues and engravings on its exterior. It is topped with a gold-leafed dome. * Constitution Plaza – Constitution Plaza is a renowned and notorious redevelopment project built in the early 1960s. Hartford's historic Front Street neighborhood was razed to build the plaza. The complex is composed of numerous office buildings, underground parking, a restaurant, a broadcasting studio, and outdoor courtyards and fountains. *
Dunkin' Donuts Park Dunkin' Donuts Park is a 6,121-seat baseball park in Hartford, Connecticut. It is the home field of the Hartford Yard Goats of the Eastern League. The stadium has a total capacity of 6,850 people, including standing room, which was reached nume ...
– A baseball field that opened on April 13, 2017, as the home of the Hartford Yard Goats. * Elizabeth Park & Rose Garden – A park straddling the border between Hartford and West Hartford. * Harriet Beecher Stowe House & Research Center – The former home of Harriet Beecher Stowe located on Nook Farm in the Asylum Hill neighborhood on Farmington Avenue. It has become a museum along with its neighbor, the home of Mark Twain. * The Hartford Financial Services Group headquarters campus on Asylum Hill occupies the former site of the American School for the Deaf, which has moved to a campus in West Hartford. * Hartford Public Library – The Library was founded in 1774 and has over 500,000 holdings, an extensive calendar of programs, and free public access computers and Wi-Fi. * Hartford Stage – Founded in 1963, this regional theatre company's productions have gone on to Broadway and have won several Tony Awards. * Hartford Symphony Orchestra – Connecticut's regional orchestra. * The Hartt School at the University of Hartford is recognized as one of the premiere performing arts conservatories in the United States. * The Mark Twain House and Museum – The home was built by Samuel Clemens and his wife in 1874. They lived here 17 years, raising three daughters. This is where Mark Twain wrote many of his most popular books. The house is open year-round for tours, events, and author programs. It is located in Nook Farm, part of the Asylum Hill neighborhood on Farmington Avenue. ''National Geographic'' named it one of the ten best historic homes in the world. * Old State House – The Old State House dates back to 1796, making it one of the nation's oldest. It was designed by
Charles Bulfinch Charles Bulfinch (August 8, 1763 – April 15, 1844) was an early American architect, and has been regarded by many as the first American-born professional architect to practice.Baltzell, Edward Digby. ''Puritan Boston & Quaker Philadelphia''. Tran ...
, who also designed the Massachusetts State House in Boston. It was recently restored with a gold-leafed dome and sits facing the Connecticut River in downtown. It was the site of the '' United States v. The Amistad'' trial. *
Phoenix Life Insurance Company Building The Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Building, locally called the "Boat Building", is a notable Modernist office building located on Constitution Plaza in Hartford, Connecticut. Designed by Max Abramovitz and completed in 1963, it is listed on the N ...
– The first two-sided building in the world, located on Constitution Plaza and listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
. * Polish National Home – Opened in 1930 to serve the Polish community that once dominated this part of Hartford, the building now serves as restaurant and banquet hall. * Pope Park – Public park originally landscaped by the Olmsted Brothers. *
Real Art Ways Real Art Ways is a non-profit art space established in 1975. Located at 56 Arbor Street in the Parkville neighborhood of Hartford, Connecticut, Real Art Ways exhibits visual art, houses an independent cinema and presents live music, theater, and ...
– An alternative art gallery hosting contemporary art, music, and film productions. * Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch – This brownstone memorial is located in Bushnell Park to honor the 4,000 Hartford citizens who served in the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
, and the 400 who perished. It was the first
triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, cr ...
in the United States. *
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
– The liberal arts college was founded in 1823 and has more than 2,100 students. It is the second-oldest in Connecticut after
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
in
New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
. * Unitarian Meeting House (1964) – a modernist structure designed by
Victor A. Lundy Victor Alfred Lundy (born February 1, 1923) is an American architect. An exemplar of modernist architecture, he was one of the leaders of the Sarasota School of Architecture. His Warm Mineral Springs Motel, outside Warm Mineral Springs, Flor ...
. * University of Connecticut Hartford Campus – The downtown campus of the University of Connecticut, anchored on Prospect Street by the historic Beaux-Arts entrance of the former Hartford Times building. *
University of Connecticut School of Business The University of Connecticut (UConn) School of Business is a graduate and undergraduate public business school that spans across four campuses, with the main campus located in Storrs, Connecticut. The UConn School of Business was founded in 19 ...
– A branch of the University of Connecticut Business school operates in downtown Hartford on Market Street, north of Constitution Plaza. *
University of Connecticut School of Law The University of Connecticut School of Law (UConn Law) is the law school associated with the University of Connecticut and located in Hartford, Connecticut. It is the only public law school in Connecticut and one of only four in New England. In ...
– The campus is located off Farmington Avenue and features an extensive Gothic-inspired library. *
University of Hartford The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. The university attracts students from 48 states and 43 countries. The university and ...
– The university was founded in 1877 and sits on with a campus on Bloomfield Avenue situated on land divided among Hartford, West Hartford, and Bloomfield in the Blue Hills neighborhood. * Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art – The oldest art museum in the US is located on Main Street in downtown Hartford opposite the Travelers Tower. The museum features a significant collection of Italian Baroque old masters and post-impressionist modern art. Alexander Calder's Stegosaurus sculpture sits in a plaza between it and the Hartford Municipal Building. *
XL Center The XL Center (originally known as the Hartford Civic Center) is a multi-purpose arena and convention center located in downtown Hartford, Connecticut. Owned by the City of Hartford, it is managed by the quasi-public Capital Region Developmen ...
– The center hosts concerts and shows and is home to the Hartford Wolf Pack AHL hockey team and the
Connecticut Huskies The UConn Huskies (or Connecticut Huskies) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, located in Storrs. The school is a member of the NCAA's Division I and the Big East Conference. The university's fo ...
basketball team.


Parades

* Greater Hartford St. Patrick's Day Parade – Downtown – March – Run by The Central Connecticut Celtic Cultural Committee. * Greater Hartford Puerto Rican Day Parade – Downtown, South Green, and Frog Hollow – June – Run by The Connecticut Institute for Community Development. * Greater Hartford West Indian Parade –
Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...
– August – Run by The West Indian Independence Celebrations since 1962. * Hooker Day Parade – Downtown – May – Run by Hartford Business Improvement District. * Connecticut Veterans Parade – Downtown – November – Run by The Ferris Group, LLC.


Sports

The Hartford Wolf Pack of the
American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the lea ...
plays
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...
at the
XL Center The XL Center (originally known as the Hartford Civic Center) is a multi-purpose arena and convention center located in downtown Hartford, Connecticut. Owned by the City of Hartford, it is managed by the quasi-public Capital Region Developmen ...
in downtown Hartford. The XL Center also hosts larger-profile games for both the men's and women's basketball teams of the UConn Huskies. Other UConn home games are played at Gampel Pavilion located on the university's campus in Storrs. In addition, all UConn Huskies Men's Ice Hockey home games are played at the XL Center. The
Hartford Yard Goats The Hartford Yard Goats are a Minor League Baseball team based in Hartford, Connecticut. The Yard Goats, which play in the Eastern League, are the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. The team was founded in 2016 when the New Britain ...
, the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, moved from New Britain to Hartford in 2017. The team currently plays at
Dunkin' Donuts Park Dunkin' Donuts Park is a 6,121-seat baseball park in Hartford, Connecticut. It is the home field of the Hartford Yard Goats of the Eastern League. The stadium has a total capacity of 6,850 people, including standing room, which was reached nume ...
. Hartford is home to a USL team, Hartford Athletic, which was founded in 2019 and currently plays in the 5,500-seat
Dillon Stadium Trinity Health Stadium (formerly Dillon Stadium) is a multipurpose facility in Hartford, Connecticut. It has been host to concerts and sporting events. It was formerly the home of the New England Nightmare of the Women's Football Alliance (W ...
. Hartford is also home to another semi-pro soccer team,
Hartford City FC Hartford City FC is an American soccer team based in West Hartford, Connecticut. The team plays in the National Premier Soccer League Northeast Region, North Atlantic Conference. The team played its first game during the 2017 season. The Colts pla ...
, which currently plays in the NPSL.


Former teams

Hartford became the home of the WHA's New England Whalers in 1975 after the club moved from Boston, one of four WHA teams that joined the NHL in 1979. The city was home to the NHL's Hartford Whalers from 1979 to 1997, before the team relocated to
Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Sout ...
and became the
Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conferenc ...
. The Boston Celtics played a varying number of home games per year in Hartford from 1975 until 1995, when they opened the new
TD Garden TD Garden is a multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts. It is named after its sponsor, TD Bank, a subsidiary of the Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Ontario. It opened in 1995 as a replacement for the original Boston Garden and has bee ...
. Hartford was also home to the Hartford Hellions of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). Hartford formerly had a
National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
baseball team Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
, the Hartford Dark Blues, in the 1870s, and had an NFL team, the Hartford Blues, for three seasons in the 1920s. Hartford briefly had a team in the UFL called the Hartford Colonials, but games were played in neighboring East Hartford's
Rentschler Field Rentschler Field was an airport in East Hartford, Connecticut in use from 1933 to 1999. Originally a military facility, later a private corporate airport, it was decommissioned in 1999, after which the football stadium of the same name was bui ...
. From 2000 to 2006 Hartford was home to the
Hartford FoxForce The Hartford FoxForce were a professional co-ed tennis team in Connecticut that competed in the World TeamTennis (WTT). History In 1999, owner Lisa Wilson-Foley and her husband franchised the World TeamTennis team Hartford FoxForce in Hartfor ...
of
World TeamTennis World TeamTennis (WTT) is a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973. The league's season normally takes place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA take ...
.


Government

Like all cities in Connecticut except Groton, Hartford is legally a consolidated city-town; both the town and the city have been legally consolidated since 1896, though since 1784 the city's boundaries have been coextensive with those of the town. Hartford is governed via the strong-mayor form of the mayor-council system. The current mayor is Luke Bronin. Hartford voted in favor of restoring a mayor-council system in 2003, more than 50 years after establishing the council-manager form. Mayor Eddie Perez was first elected in 2001 and was re-elected with 76% of the vote in 2003. As the first strong mayor elected under the revised charter, he is widely credited with reducing crime, reforming the school system, and sparking economic revitalization in the city. However, his reputation was hurt by accusations of corruption. The city council, formally known as the "Court of Common Council," has nine members. In Connecticut, there is no county-level executive or legislative government. The state abolished county government in 1960, and since then counties have served as little more than boundaries for the state's probate, civil, and criminal courts. Connecticut municipalities provide nearly all local services such as fire and rescue, education, and snow removal. Hartford passed an ordinance providing services to all residents regardless of their
immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, ...
in 2008. Said ordinance also prohibits police from detaining individuals based solely on their immigration status, or inquiring as to their immigration status. In 2016, the ordinance was amended to declare that Hartford is a " Sanctuary city", although the term itself does not have an established legal meaning. Hartford is a predominantly Democratic city and has voted for every presidential candidate in the party since Al Smith in 1928. In 2016, the city voted for Clinton 90%–8%, a slight shift from voting for Obama 93%–6% in the previous election. In 2020, Joe Biden won the city's vote by a margin of 87%–13%.


City council


Education


Colleges and universities

Hartford houses several world-class institutions such as
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
. Other notable institutions include Capital Community College (located Downtown in the old G. Fox Department Store building on Main Street), the University of Connecticut's Hartford campus (downtown in the old
Hartford Times Building The Hartford Times Building is an historic Beaux-Arts building in downtown Hartford, Connecticut built as the headquarters of the now defunct Hartford Times. The newspaper commissioned architect Donn Barber, who had designed the nearby Travel ...
on Prospect Street), the
University of Connecticut School of Business The University of Connecticut (UConn) School of Business is a graduate and undergraduate public business school that spans across four campuses, with the main campus located in Storrs, Connecticut. The UConn School of Business was founded in 19 ...
(also Downtown), the Hartford Seminary (in the West End), the
University of Connecticut School of Law The University of Connecticut School of Law (UConn Law) is the law school associated with the University of Connecticut and located in Hartford, Connecticut. It is the only public law school in Connecticut and one of only four in New England. In ...
(also in the West End) and Rensselaer at Hartford (a Downtown branch campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). University of Saint Joseph opened its school of pharmacy in the downtown area in 2011. The
University of Hartford The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. The university attracts students from 48 states and 43 countries. The university and ...
features several cultural institutions: the Joseloff Gallery, the Renee Samuels Center, and the Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts center. The "U of H" campus is co-located in the city's Blue Hills neighborhood and in neighboring towns West Hartford and Bloomfield.


Primary and secondary education

Hartford is served by the Hartford Public Schools. Hartford Public High School, the nation's second-oldest high school, is located in the Asylum Hill neighborhood of Hartford. The city is also home to Bulkeley High School on Wethersfield Avenue, Global Communications Academy on Greenfield Avenue, Weaver High School on Granby Street, and Sport Medical and Sciences Academy on Huyshope Avenue. In addition, Hartford contains The Learning Corridor, which is home to the Montessori Magnet School, Hartford Magnet Middle School, Greater Harford Academy of Math and Science, and the
Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts The CREC Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts Half Day (known formerly as the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts) is an integrated magnet arts high school serving students in Hartford, Connecticut and its surrounding towns. It is one of four ...
. One of the technical high schools in the Connecticut Technical High School System,
A.I. Prince Technical High School A.I. Prince Technical High School, or Prince Tech, is a technical high school located in Hartford, Connecticut. Prince Tech receives students from many nearby towns. Prince Tech prepares students for both college and careers through the achievem ...
, also calls the city home. The Classical Magnet School is one of the many Hartford magnet schools. Hartford is also home to
Watkinson School Watkinson School is a private co-educational independent day school in Hartford, Connecticut, United States. Watkinson is situated on Bloomfield Avenue adjacent to the University of Hartford. It serves students from 6th through 12th grade. Watkin ...
, a private coeducational day school, and
Grace S. Webb School The Grace S. Webb School, part of the Institute of Living (a psychiatric hospital) in Hartford, Connecticut, provides special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternati ...
, a special education school. Catholic schools are administered by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford. The city's high school graduation rate reached 71 percent in 2013, according to the state Department of Education.


Media

The daily '' Hartford Courant'' newspaper is the country's oldest continuously published newspaper, founded in 1764. A weekly newspaper, owned by the same company that owns the Courant, the ''
Hartford Advocate ''CTNow'' is a free weekly newspaper in central and southwestern Connecticut, published by the ''Hartford Courant''. The previous iteration of CTNow was New Mass. Media, a privately owned weekly newspaper company until 1999, when its owners, inc ...
'', also serves Hartford and the surrounding area, as do the '' Hartford Business Journal'' ("Greater Hartford's Business Weekly") and the weekly ''Hartford News''. The Hartford region is also served by several magazines. Among the local publications are: ''Hartford Magazine'', a monthly lifestyle magazine serving Greater Hartford; ''CT Cottages & Gardens''; ''Connecticut Business'', a glossy monthly serving all of Connecticut; and ''Home Living CT'', a home and garden magazine published five times a year and distributed statewide.


Broadcast media

Several radio stations are based in Hartford, including WDRC (AM), WDRC (FM), WHCN (FM),
WJMJ WJMJ (88.9 MHz) is a non-profit, non-commercial, FM radio station licensed to Hartford, Connecticut. It is owned by St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, Connecticut, which in turn is owned by the Archdiocese of Hartford. The transmitter towe ...
(FM),
WPOP WPOP (1410 AM) is a commercial radio station in Hartford, Connecticut, broadcasting a news/talk/sports radio format. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and offices are located on Columbus Boulevard in Hartford. WPOP broadcas ...
(AM),
WTIC (AM) WTIC (1080 kHz "WTIC NewsTalk 1080") is a commercial AM radio station in Hartford, Connecticut. It airs a news/talk radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. The station's studios and offices are on Executive Drive in Farmington. The transmitt ...
, WTIC (FM), and WPKT (FM, NPR). Additionally, several
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
, including
Connecticut Public Television Connecticut Public Television (CPTV) is the Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) member network for the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is owned by Connecticut Public Broadcasting, a community-based non-profit organization that holds the licens ...
, which is headquartered in Hartford. In addition to
WEDH Connecticut Public Television (CPTV) is the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member network for the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is owned by Connecticut Public Broadcasting, a community-based non-profit organization that holds the licenses ...
24 (Connecticut Public Television), Hartford's major television stations include WFSB 3 ( CBS),
WTNH WTNH (channel 8) is a television station licensed to New Haven, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven market as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WCTX (channel 59), a ...
8 ( ABC), WVIT 30 ( NBC O&O),
WHCT-LD WHCT-LD (channel 35) is a low-power television station licensed to both Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut, United States, affiliated with MeTV. The station is owned and operated by Weigel Broadcasting, and maintains a transmitter on Rattlesnak ...
35 ( MeTV), WTIC-TV 61 ( Fox), WCCT-TV 20 (
The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
), and WCTX 59 ( MyNetworkTV). These stations serve the Hartford/
New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
market, which is the 33rd largest media market in the U.S. as of 2020


Infrastructure


Transportation


Highways

I-84 Interstate 84 may refer to: * Interstate 84 (Oregon–Utah), passing through Idaho, formerly known as Interstate 80N * Interstate 84 (Pennsylvania–Massachusetts) Interstate 84 (I-84) is an Interstate Highway in the Northeaster ...
which runs from Scranton to I-90 in
Sturbridge Sturbridge is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is home to Old Sturbridge Village living history museum and other sites of historical interest such as Tantiusques. The population was 9,867 at the 2020 census, with more ...
, just over the Massachusetts border, and I-91, which runs from
New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
along the Connecticut River ultimately to Canada, intersect in downtown Hartford. In addition to I-84 and I-91, two other highways service the city:
Route 2 The following highways are numbered 2. For roads numbered A2, see list of A2 roads. For roads numbered B2, see list of B2 roads. For roads numbered M2, see list of M2 roads. For roads numbered N2, see list of N2 roads. International * AH2, As ...
, an expressway that runs from downtown Hartford to Westerly, passing through
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...
and past
Foxwoods Resort Casino Foxwoods Resort Casino is a hotel and casino complex owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on their reservation located in Ledyard, Connecticut. Including six casinos, the resort covers an area of . The casinos have more ...
. The Wilbur Cross Highway portion of Route 15 that skirts the southeastern part of the city near Brainard Airport. A short connector known as the Conlin–Whitehead Highway also provides direct access from I-91 to the Capitol Area of downtown Hartford. The Main St. Bridge is a historic bridge on the highway. Hartford experiences heavy traffic as a result of its substantial suburban population (nearly 10 times that of the actual city). As a result, thousands of people travel on area highways at the start and end of each workday. I-84 experiences traffic from Farmington through Hartford and into
East Hartford East Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 51,045 at the 2020 census. The town is located on the east bank of the Connecticut River, directly across from Hartford, Connecticut. It is home to aerospa ...
and
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
during the rush hour. Several major surface arteries also run through the city. Albany Avenue ( Route 44) runs westward through the northern part of West Hartford to the Farmington Valley and the hills of northern
Litchfield County Litchfield County is in northwestern Connecticut. As of the 2020 census, the population was 185,186. The county was named after Lichfield, in England. Litchfield County has the lowest population density of any county in Connecticut and is th ...
and into New York, and eastward towards Putnam and into
Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
. Blue Hills Avenue ( Route 187) runs north from Albany Avenue toward Bloomfield and East Granby. Main Street ( Route 159) heads north through Windsor towards the western suburbs of Springfield, Massachusetts. Wethersfield Avenue (
Route 99 International * European route E99 Australia * Springbrook Road, Queensland Canada * British Columbia Highway 99 * Ontario Highway 99 (former) * Saskatchewan Highway 99 China * G99 Expressway India * National Highway 99 (India) ...
) heads south through Wethersfield towards Middletown. Maple Avenue heads south-southwest, becoming the
Berlin Turnpike The Berlin Turnpike is a 4-lane/6-lane divided arterial road mostly carrying U.S. Route 5 (US 5) and Route 15 in New Haven County and Hartford County in the U.S. state of Connecticut. The road begins one mile south of the Meriden- Berlin ...
in Wethersfield and Newington. Farmington Avenue heads west through West Hartford Center and Farmington towards Torrington. A large-scale project is being planned to rebuild the I-84 viaduct that cross through the city along with moving I-91 away from the Connecticut River.


Rail

The city is served by the 1889 built Hartford Union Station.
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...
provides service from Hartford to
Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...
via Springfield and southward to
New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
. The station also serves numerous bus companies. Hartford Union Station is also served by the Hartford Line, a commuter rail service that runs between New Haven and Springfield and stops at stations in communities along
Interstate 91 Interstate 91 (I-91) is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States. It provides the primary north–south thoroughfare in the western part of the region. The Interstate generally follows the course of the Connec ...
. It uses the rail line owned by Amtrak. "CTrail" branded trains provide service along the corridor, and riders can use Hartford Line tickets to travel on board most Amtrak trains along the corridor at the same prices. The service launched on June 16, 2018.


Airports

Bradley International Airport Bradley International Airport is a public international airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, United States. Owned and operated by the Connecticut Airport Authority, it is the second-largest airport in New England. The airport is about half ...
(BDL) is located in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, and offers more than 150 daily departures to over 30 destinations on 9 airlines. Connecticut Transit provides bus service between Bradley International Airport and downtown Hartford. Other airports serving the Hartford area include: * Hartford-Brainard Airport (HFD), located in Hartford off I-91 and close to Wethersfield; serves charter and local flights *
Westover Metropolitan Airport Westover Metropolitan Airport is a civilian airport located in the Massachusetts communities of Chicopee, Granby, and Ludlow, near the cities of Springfield and Holyoke, Massachusetts. The complex is considered intermodal because it border ...
(CEF), located in Chicopee, Massachusetts, north of Hartford; serves commercial, local, charter, and military flights * Tweed New Haven Regional Airport (HVN), located in New Haven; serves Avelo Airlines


Bus

Connecticut Transit (CTtransit) is owned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation. The Hartford Division of CTtransit operates local and commuter bus service within the city and the surrounding area. Hartford's Downtown Area Shuttle (DASH) bus route is a free downtown circulator. All city buses are equipped with bike racks. In March 2015, CTfastrak, Connecticut's first bus rapid transit system, opened, providing a separated right-of-way between Hartford and New Britain. In addition, express bus services travel from downtown Hartford and Waterbury, servicing intermediate suburban communities like Southington and
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...
, providing reliable public transportation between these communities for the first time. CTfastrak consists of 10 stations along the dedicated New Britain to Hartford busway, as well as a downtown loop serving Union Station and other downtown landmarks. Amenities include high-level station platforms, on-board wi-fi, ticket machines for pre-boarding fare collection, and real-time arrival information at stations. Interstate bus service is provided by Peter Pan Bus, Greyhound Bus and
Megabus Megabus may refer to: * Megabus (Europe), a low-cost coach service with services in Europe owned by ComfortDelGro. * Megabus (North America), a low-cost bus service in the United States and Canada owned by Variant Equity Advisors. * Megabús, a ...
. Chinatown bus lines provide low-cost bus service between Hartford and their New York and Boston hubs. In addition, there are buses for connections to smaller cities in the state. The main bus station is located on the ground floor of the transport center at Hartford Union Station at One Union Place, serving Peter Pan Bus and Greyhound Bus customers. All
Megabus Megabus may refer to: * Megabus (Europe), a low-cost coach service with services in Europe owned by ComfortDelGro. * Megabus (North America), a low-cost bus service in the United States and Canada owned by Variant Equity Advisors. * Megabús, a ...
arrivals and departures are at the corner of Columbus Boulevard and Talcott Street on the opposite side of downtown.


Bicycle

A bicycle route runs through the center of Hartford. This route is a small piece of the large eastern bicycle route – the East Coast Greenway (ECG). The ECG runs from Calais, Maine to the Florida Keys. The route is intended to be off-road, but some sections are currently on-road. The section through Hartford is right through the middle of Bushnell Park. There are designated bicycle lanes on several roads including Capitol Avenue, Zion Street, Scarborough Lane, Whitney, and South Whitney.


Emergency services


Fire department

The Hartford Fire Department is the fifth-largest fire department in Connecticut. The fire department operates out of 12 fire stations located throughout the city. Three of Hartford's fire stations are on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
. Engine 1 and Engine 15 are still in use today. The station for Engine 6, disbanded in 1984, has been repurposed as a homeless shelter.


Police department

The Hartford Police Department was founded in 1860, though the history of law enforcement in Hartford begins in 1636.


Emergency medical services

Hartford outsources ambulance services to private companies, including Aetna Ambulance in the South End and American Medical Response in the North End.


Notable people

Hartford has been home to many historically significant people, such as dictionary author
Noah Webster Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible ( Book of Genesis, chapters ...
(1758–1843), inventor Sam Colt (1814–1862), and American financier and industrialist
J.P. Morgan JP may refer to: Arts and media * ''JP'' (album), 2001, by American singer Jesse Powell * ''Jp'' (magazine), an American Jeep magazine * ''Jönköpings-Posten'', a Swedish newspaper * Judas Priest, an English heavy metal band * ''Jurassic Par ...
(1837–1913). Some of America's most famous authors lived in Hartford, including Mark Twain (1835–1910), who moved to the city in 1874. Twain's next-door neighbor at Nook Farm was Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896). Poet
Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...
(1879–1955) was an insurance executive in the city, and World War II correspondent
Lyn Crost Lyn Crost (1915 in Brooklyn, New York – 1997 in Washington, D.C.) was a World War II correspondent and author. Education Eleanor Elizabeth Crost, who was known professionally as Lyn Crost, was born in Brooklyn, New York on September 19, ...
(1915–1997) lived there. More recently, Dominick Dunne (1925–2009), John Gregory Dunne (1932–2003), and Suzanne Collins (born 1962) have resided in Hartford. Actors and others in the entertainment business from Hartford include Katharine Hepburn, Thomas Ian Griffith, Gary Merrill, Linda Evans, Eriq La Salle, Diane Venora, William Gillette, Grace Carney, and Charles Nelson Reilly, and TV producer and writer Norman Lear.
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...
artist George Tuska grew up in Hartford. Additionally, the fictional characters of Richard and Emily Gilmore were said to reside in Hartford on the
Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel ( Rory Gilmore). The show debuted on October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flag ...
. Barbara McClintock (1902–1992), pioneering
cytogeneticist Cytogenetics is essentially a branch of genetics, but is also a part of cell biology/cytology (a subdivision of human anatomy), that is concerned with how the chromosomes relate to cell behaviour, particularly to their behaviour during mitosis a ...
was born in Hartford, CT. She was awarded the 1983
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accordi ...
for the breakthrough discovery of genetic transposition. She is the only woman to receive an unshared Nobel Prize in the Medicine category. Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, mother of president Theodore Roosevelt and paternal grandmother of
Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
, was born in Hartford on July 8, 1835.
Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...
(1822–1903), considered the father of the profession of Landscape Architecture, was born in Hartford. Among his designs are New York's
Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
, 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and Asheville's
Biltmore Estate Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House (or Biltmore Mansion), the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 a ...
. Other projects that Olmsted was involved in include the country's first and oldest coordinated system of public parks and parkways in Buffalo, New York; the country's oldest state park, the Niagara Reservation in Niagara Falls, New York; one of the first planned communities in the United States, Riverside, Illinois; Mount Royal Park in Montreal, Quebec; the Emerald Necklace in Boston, Massachusetts; Highland Park in Rochester, New York; Belle Isle Park, in the Detroit River for Detroit, Michigan; the Grand Necklace of Parks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Cherokee Park and entire parks and parkway system in Louisville, Kentucky. Olmsted's nephew,
Frederick E. Olmsted Frederick Erskine Olmsted, also known as Fritz Olmsted, (November 8, 1872 – February 19, 1925) was an American forester and one of "the founders of American forestry". He is credited with helping to establish the National Forest system in th ...
(1872–1925) was a pioneering forester who is credited helping to establish the National Forest system in the United States. In the field of music, natives include singer Sophie Tucker (1884–1966), "last of the red-hot mamas." Others include: *Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members Gene Pitney and Mike Carabello (of Santana) * Mark McGrath *bass guitarist Doug Wimbish of
Living Colour Living Colour is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. The band currently consists of guitarist Vernon Reid, lead vocalist Corey Glover, drummer Will Calhoun and bassist Doug Wimbish (who replaced Muzz Skillings in 1992). St ...
*
Cindy Blackman Cindy Blackman Santana (born November 18, 1959), sometimes known as Cindy Blackman, is an American jazz and rock drummer. Blackman has recorded several jazz albums as a bandleader and has performed with Pharoah Sanders, Sonny Simmons, Ron Carter ...
(drummer for Lenny Kravitz) *jazz alto saxophonist Jackie McLean *concert violinist Elmar Oliveira (born 1950) *brothers
Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working o ...
, Mike Porcaro, and Steve Porcaro (of the group Toto) Former
Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conferenc ...
head coach Eric Mangini is from Hartford. Former NHL player Craig Janney and current player Nick Bonino were born in Hartford. Other sports stars include NBA players Marcus Camby, Rick Mahorn, Johnny Egan, and Michael Adams, as well as NFL kicker John Carney, Dwight Freeney, Tebucky Jones, and Eugene Robinson.


Recent developments

* Adriaen's Landing – The state and privately funded project is situated on the banks of the Connecticut River along Columbus Boulevard, and connects to Constitution Plaza. Constitution Plaza forced hundreds of households to relocate when it was built a few decades ago. The latest project includes the Connecticut Convention Center, which opened in June 2005 and is the largest meeting space between New York City and
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. Attached to the Convention Center is the 22-story, 409-room
Marriott Marriott may refer to: People *Marriott (surname) Corporations * Marriott Corporation, founded as Hot Shoppes, Inc. in 1927; split into Marriott International and Host Marriott Corporation in 1993 * Marriott International, international hot ...
Hartford Hotel-Downtown, which opened in August 2005. Being constructed next to the convention center and hotel is the Connecticut Science Center. * Capital Community College at the 11-story G. Fox Department Store Building – The former home of the G. Fox & Company Department Store on Main Street has been renovated and made the new home of Capital Community College as well as offices for the State of Connecticut and ground level retail space. Capital Community College helps train (mostly) adult students in specific career fields. On Thursdays, vendors sell crafts on the Main Street level. Two music clubs, Mezzanine and Room 960, are housed in the building. * CTfastrak – The recently completed bus rapid transit system connects Hartford's Union Station to downtown New Britain. It was built to ease traffic on
I-84 Interstate 84 may refer to: * Interstate 84 (Oregon–Utah), passing through Idaho, formerly known as Interstate 80N * Interstate 84 (Pennsylvania–Massachusetts) Interstate 84 (I-84) is an Interstate Highway in the Northeaster ...
. *Front Street – The final component of Adriaen's Landing, Front Street, sits across from the Convention Center and covers the land between Columbus Boulevard and
The Hartford Times Building The Hartford Times Building is an historic Beaux-Arts building in downtown Hartford, Connecticut built as the headquarters of the now defunct Hartford Times. The newspaper commissioned architect Donn Barber, who had designed the nearby Travel ...
. The Front Street development combines retail, entertainment and residential components. Publicly funded parts of the project will include transportation improvements. There have been significant delays in the Front Street project, and the first developer was removed from the project because of lack of progress. The city has chosen a new developer, but work is yet to begin on the retail and residential component of Front Street. The city and state may soon take action to increase the speed with which the project enters implementation phases. There has been talk of bringing an
ESPN Zone ESPN Zone was a theme restaurant and entertainment center chain in the United States that included arcades, TV studios, and radio studios, operated by the Disney Regional Entertainment subsidiary of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts using the Disne ...
to the Front Street (
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
is headquartered in nearby
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...
). On the back side of Front Street, the historic Beaux-Arts Hartford Times Building is being converted into a downtown campus of the University of Connecticut. * Hartford Line – According to Connecticut Governor Malloy, the Hartford Line commuter rail service will reach speeds up to . The rail line is intended to unite the densely populated, ) region between Hartford, Springfield, and New Haven; ease the frequently congested
Interstate 91 Interstate 91 (I-91) is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States. It provides the primary north–south thoroughfare in the western part of the region. The Interstate generally follows the course of the Connec ...
automobile highway; and increase mobility in a region that is now almost entirely dependent upon automobile ownership. As of May 2011, Connecticut's portion of the commuter line has been three-quarters funded. Currently, the state is seeking the $227 million necessary to complete the northern portion of the line from the $2.4 billion in federal funds that Florida rejected to fund its own high-speed rail project. *Knowledge Corridor Partnership – In 2000, at The Big E in West Springfield, Massachusetts, Hartford and Springfield, Massachusetts – the two major New England, Connecticut River Valley cities with centers only ) apart – jointly announced the
Knowledge Corridor Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distin ...
Partnership. The Knowledge Corridor Partnership aims to unite the two metropolitan areas economically, culturally, and geographically. The nickname comes from the metropolitan region's over 32 universities and liberal arts colleges, including several of the United States' most prestigious. As of the 10th anniversary of the Knowledge Corridor, it was announced that the Knowledge Corridor is beginning to receive federal funds, as opposed to either state or city funds.


Sister cities

Hartford's sister cities are: *
Caguas Caguas (, ) is a city and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Central Mountain Range of Puerto Rico, south of San Juan and Trujillo Alto, west of Gurabo and San Lorenzo, and east of Aguas Buenas, Cidra, and Cayey. Caguas was founded ...
, Puerto Rico * Dongguan, China * Floridia, Italy * Morant Bay, Jamaica * New Ross, Ireland * Ocotal, Nicaragua *
Sogakope Sogakofe (also known as Sogakope) is the capital of South Tongu district, a district in the Volta Region of Ghana. It is home to the lower Volta Bridge which connects Sogakofe to Sokpoe. The town is mostly known for its river tourism and Mass br ...
, Ghana * Thessaloniki, Greece * Hertford, England


See also

*
Hartford Electric Light Company The Hartford Electric Light Company (HELCO) is a defunct electrical company that was located on Pearl Street in Hartford, Connecticut. It was merged with the Connecticut Power Company in 1958 and later these became Connecticut Light & Power. It ...
* Mary-Ann (turbine generator) *
List of cities in Connecticut The U.S. state of Connecticut is divided into 169 towns (including 21 cities), which are grouped into eight counties. Towns traditionally have a town meeting form of government; under the Home Rule Act, however, towns are free to choose the ...


Explanatory notes


References


External links

*
Chamber of Commerce
* {{Authority control Cities in Connecticut Cities in Hartford County, Connecticut Populated places established in 1637 Populated places established by the Dutch West India Company Connecticut populated places on the Connecticut River Hispanic and Latino American culture in Connecticut 1637 establishments in Connecticut Greater Hartford