Hartford History, Connecticut

Hartford, CT US - History: History of the World’s Insurance Capital

Hartford, CT started as trading post by the Dutch in the year 1623 and received the name ‘House of Hope’ from them. However, the city saw settlement in the year 1636, when Reverend Thomas Hooker along with a group of settlers formed a colony in the region. The town was then known as Saukiog by the Algonquin Indians, but was renamed Hartford by the new settlers, who came from Hertford.

In its initial years, the mainstay of Hartford used to be agriculture. However with the passage of time, the city went on to become a major trade center. During those times, the main goods that were traded in the city included rum, molasses, coffee and spices. These products were also traded across the seas to faraway places in the West Indies, the Far East and England. However, the sea route was under constant threats in the form of pirates & storms and did pose a concern to the traders in the area.

To protect themselves from the various threats that they had to face quite often, the merchants operating in the city came up with an idea of sharing their problems. They finalized the same in the form of the Hartford Fire Insurance Group, which got created in the year 1810. In the later years, a great number of other insurance companies were formed in the city and thereby it earned the name ‘Insurance Capital of the World’ from its dwellers.

The city saw the introduction of a large number of manufacturing units and was pioneered by the renowned manufacturer Samuel Colt. As the years passed by, the city prospered more and people from different places came to the city. This was one of the reasons for the city to have a great diversity in terms of inhabitants in the city.

Over the years, Hartford also gained popularity as a center of art and culture. This can clearly be understood from the innumerable museums and art centers that are still present in the city. The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, founded in the year 1894, is the oldest museum in the city and still attracts a great number of visitors from different parts of the world.

The city was so popular that famous authors like Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mark Twain settled down in Hartford for a considerable amount of time. Over the years, the city has become one of the prominent cities of America.

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