Hartford, Connecticut

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Hartford, Connecticut
Flag Seal
Nickname: The Insurance Capital of the World
Location in Hartford County, Connecticut
Coordinates: 41°45′57″N, 72°41′00″W
NECTA	Hartford
Region	Capitol Region
Named	1637
Incorporated (city)	1784
Consolidated	1896
Government
- Type	Mayor-council
- Mayor	Eddie Perez
Area
- City	46.5 km²  (18.0 sq mi)
- Land	44.8 km² (17.3 sq mi)
- Water	1.7 km² (0.7 sq mi)
- Urban	1,216 km² (469 sq mi)
Population (2005)[1]
- City	124,397
- Density	2,776/km² (7,189.8/sq mi)
- Metro	1,188,241
Time zone	Eastern (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	Eastern (UTC-4)
ZIP code	061xx
Website: http://www.hartford.gov

Hartford is the capital of the State of Connecticut. It is located in Hartford County on the Connecticut River, north of the center of the state. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 121,578, but a July 1, 2005 Census estimate put the city's population at 124,397^[1]. It is the third largest city in the state, after Bridgeport and New Haven.^[1] Greater Hartford is also the largest metro area in Connecticut and 44th in the country (2004 census estimate) with a population of 1,184,241.

Sometimes referred to as the "insurance capital of the world," Hartford houses many of the world's insurance company headquarters, and insurance is one of the region's major industries. (The State of Connecticut is sometimes still known as "the land of steady habits.") The region has a relatively low population of adults between the ages of 18 and 25, although Hartford itself has a relatively young population.

Hartford's West End is home to Elizabeth Park, the oldest and largest municipal rose garden in the country. Hartford is also home to Bushnell, Colt, Goodwin, Rocky Ridge, Keney, Pope, and Riverside Parks.

Contents 1 History 2 Geography and Climate 3 Demographics 4 Neighborhoods 5 Economy 6 Education 6.1 Colleges and universities 6.2 Primary and secondary education 7 Culture 7.1 Points of interest 8 Sports 9 Revitalization 10 Media 11 Transportation 11.1 Airports 11.2 Buses 11.3 Highways 11.4 Railroad 11.5 Public transport 12 Famous Hartford residents 13 Sister cities 14 Appearances in popular culture 15 References 16 External links

[edit] History

This is a summary. For more information, see: History of Hartford, Connecticut

After Dutch explorer Adriaen Block visited the area in 1614, fur traders from the New Netherland colony set up trade at Fort Goede Hoop (Good Hope) at the confluence of the Connecticut River and the Park River^[2] as early as 1623 but abandoned their post by 1654. The neighborhood near the site is still known as Dutch Point. The first English settlers arrived in 1635. The settlement was originally called Newtown, but was renamed, Hartford in 1637. One theory about the origins of the name "Hartford" was to honor the English town of Hertford.

The pastor of the church that founded Hartford, Thomas Hooker, early delivered a sermon which inspired the writing of the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, a document (ratified January 14, 1639) investing the people with the authority to govern, rather than ceding it to a higher power. Some historians credit Hooker's concepts of self-rule as being a forerunner of the U.S. Constitution.^{[citation needed]}

On December 15, 1814, delegations from New England gathered at the Hartford Convention to discuss secession from the United States. Later in the century, Hartford was a center of abolitionist activity.

In July 6, 1944, the Hartford Circus Fire became one of the deadliest fires in the history of the United States.

On November 3, 1981, Thirman L. Milner became the city's first African-American mayor and the first black mayor elected in New England.

In 1987, Carrie Saxon Perry was elected mayor of Hartford, the first African-American woman mayor of a major American city.

Starting in the late 1950s, as the suburbs ringing Hartford continued to grow and flourish, the capital city began a long economic decline. This decline may have been accelerated by construction of automobile highways (including I-84 & I-91 which intersect in downtown Hartford) built to make access to the suburbs easier. People with the means to do so started moving out of the city and into the suburbs and as the years went by people kept moving farther out. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, many workers in Hartford lived in towns (including Canton, Simsbury, Avon, Hebron, Marlborough and Cromwell) located more than a twenty-minute daily commute from the city. In the last few years, revitalization efforts have started with the common goal being to get more people living downtown which before had become desolate when employees left the city.

[edit] Geography and Climate

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 46.5 km² (18.0 mi²). 44.8 km² (17.3 mi²) of it is land and 1.7 km² (0.7 mi²) of it (3.67%) is water.

Hartford is bordered by the towns of West Hartford, Newington, Wethersfield, East Hartford, Bloomfield, South Windsor, and Windsor.

The Connecticut River separates Hartford from the city's eastern suburbs.

The Park River originally divided Hartford into northern and southern sections and was a major part of Bushnell Park. The river was nearly completely enclosed by flood control projects in the 1940s.^[2] The former course of the river can still be seen in some of the roadways that were built in its place, such as Jewell St. and the Conlin-Whitehead Highway.^[3]

Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Rec High °F	66	73	89	96	99	100	102	102	99	91	81	76
Norm High °F	34.1	37.7	47.7	59.9	71.7	80	84.9	82.5	74.3	63.1	50.9	39
Norm Low °F	17.2	19.9	28.3	37.9	48.1	57	62.4	60.7	52.1	40.6	32.6	22.6
Rec Low °F	-26	-21	-6	9	28	35	44	36	30	17	1	-14
Precip (in)	3.84	2.96	3.88	3.86	4.39	3.85	3.67	3.98	4.13	3.94	4.06	3.6
Source: USTravelWeather.com [1]

[edit] Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there were 121,578 people, 44,986 households, and 27,171 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,711.8/km² (7,025.5/mi²). There were 50,644 housing units at an average density of 1,129.6/km² (2,926.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 17.72% White, 38.05% Black or African American, 0.54% Native American, 1.62% Asian, 0.11% Pacific Islander, 26.51% from other races, and 5.44% from two or more races. 40.52% of the population were Hispanic or Latino, chiefly of Puerto Rican origin.

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 was spread out with 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 $24,820, and the median income for a family was $27,051. Males had a median income of $28,444 versus $26,131 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,428. About 28.2% of families and 30.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 41.0% of those under age 18 and 23.2% of those age 65 or over.

After World War II, many residents of Puerto Rico moved to Hartford and today Puerto Rican flags can be found on cars and buildings all over the city.

In 2000, 32.56% of Hartford residents claimed Puerto Rican heritage. This was the second largest concentration of Puerto Ricans on the US mainland, behind only Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Hartford in 1969, when he was 12 years old.

Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of October 25, 2005[4]
Party		Active Voters	Inactive Voters	Total Voters	Percentage
	Democratic	30,332	5,981	36,313	65.81%
	Republican	2,248	351	2,599	4.71%
	Unaffiliated	12,880	3,324	16,204	29.37%
	Minor Parties	48	13	61	0.11%
Total		45,508	9,669	55,177	100%

[edit] Neighborhoods

Main article: Neighborhoods of Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford's neighborhoods are a diverse and historic lot. Downtown Hartford is the location of the central business district. Parkville is named for the confluence of the north and the south branches of the Park River; it is home to Real Art Ways. Frog Hollow is home to Pope park. Asylum Hill is the location of the headquarters of several insurance companies. The West End is home to the Mark Twain House and the Governor's residence. Sheldon/Charter Oak is the location of the historic Charter Oak monument and the former Colt factory. The North East neighborhood is home to Keney Park. The South End is home to the city's "Little Italy". The South Green is host to Hartford Hospital. The South Meadows is the site of Hartford-Brainard Airport and Hartford's industrial park. The North Meadows has several car dealerships and is the location of the Dodge Music Center. Other neighborhoods in Hartford: Barry Square, Behind the Rocks, Blue Hills, Clay Arsenal, Southwest, and Upper Albany.

[edit] Economy

Greater Hartford is an international center of the insurance industry, with companies such as CIGNA, Aetna, and The Hartford based in the city. The area is also home to Colt Firearms and large corporations like United Technologies (the corporate parent of Pratt & Whitney, Otis Elevator, Sikorsky Aircraft, Carrier Corporation, Hamilton Sundstrand, UTC Fire & Security and UTC Fuel Cells).

Nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Hartford was a major manufacturing and publishing city; but, as in many other Western industrial cities, many factories have been closed, relocated, or reduced. Hartford has long been important to insurance companies and still is occasionally called the "insurance capital of the world," though recent insurance mergers have hurt Hartford. MetLife and Lincoln Financial have cut their Hartford workforces and MassMutual has relocated its Hartford operations to Enfield, Connecticut to be closer to its headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts. Recently, though, Hartford has shown that it is still a viable business location. St. Paul Travelers has announced it will bring 600 jobs to the area (500 of them in downtown Hartford); Aetna is moving more than 3,500 employees to the city from Middletown, Connecticut.

[edit] Education

[edit] Colleges and universities

Hartford is home to several institutions such as Trinity College in the city's Barry Square neighborhood, the Hartford Conservatory (in the Asylum Hill neighborhood), The Institute of Living, Capital Community College (located downtown), the University of Connecticut School of Business (also downtown), Hartford Seminary (in the West End), the University of Connecticut School of Law (also in the West End) and Rensselaer at Hartford (a North Meadows branch campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). Astride the border with neighboring West Hartford are The Hartt School, a performing arts conservatory attached to the University of Hartford, and The Hartford Art School, also attached to the University of Hartford.

[edit] Primary and secondary education

Hartford is served by Hartford Public Schools [2].

Hartford Public High School, the nation's second oldest high school, also finds its home in the Asylum Hill neighborhood of Hartford. Hartford is also home to Bulkeley High on Wethersfield Ave. and Weaver High on Granby Street.

[edit] Culture

[edit] Points of interest

• Aetna Headquarters - The world's largest colonial revival building, the Aetna headquarters is crowned by a tall Georgian tower inspired by the Old State House downtown.
• Armsmear - The Colt family estate.
• Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts
• Bushnell Park - Located below the State Capitol and legislative office complex, this park consists of rolling lawns, statues, fountains, a lake, and a historic carousel. It is the first park in the country purchased by a municipality for public use and was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted before Central Park in New York City. The Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Arch is an 85 ft Civil War Memorial which frames the northern entrance to the park.
• Cathedral of St. Joseph - Located just west of downtown along Farmington Avenue in the Asylum Hill neighborhood this Roman Catholic cathedral has large Parisian stained glass windows and the largest ceramic tile mural of Christ in Glory in the world.
• Charter Oak Cultural Center^[3] - Located at 21 Charter Oak Avenue, near the Charter Oak monument, COCC is housed in the first synagogue in Connecticut, built in 1876. Today it is a secular non-profit institution bringing together art, drama, music, and other cultural excursions.
• Colt Arms Factory and Park - Topped with a blue and gold dome, the complex is currently being redeveloped and renovated. It will feature office space, apartments, and retail space.
• Connecticut Center for Science and Exploration - The 150,000 square foot (14,000 m²) facility will be built along the Connecticut River on Columbus Boulevard next to the convention center (opening in 2007+).

• Connecticut Convention Center - 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 new 409 room 22 story Marriott Hotel (opened in late August 2005).
• Connecticut State Capitol - Located at Bushnell Park, this large Gothic-inspired building features many statues on its exterior. It is topped with a gold leafed dome.
• Constitution Plaza - Built in the early 1960s, Constitution Plaza is a renowned redevelopment project. To build the plaza, Front Street residents were displaced. The complex is comprised of numerous office buildings, underground parking, a restaurant, and outdoor courtyards along with a broadcasting studio which will shortly be relocating to a suburb. During the holiday season the area is filled with Christmas lights for the Festival of Lights. The Plaza passes over the highway and connects the city to the Connecticut River.
• Elizabeth Park & Rose Garden^[4] - Located on the Hartford/West Hartford border.
• Harriet Beecher Stowe House & Research Center - The former home of Harriet Beecher Stowe is now a museum located on Farmington Avenue near the Mark Twain House.
• Hartford Civic Center - Built in 1975, the center hosts concerts and shows. It hosted the former NHL Hartford Whalers, and is also the home to the Hartford Wolf Pack AHL hockey team and is a part time home to UConn basketball team. A new 36 story apartment complex (Hartford 21) is being built directly on top of the Civic Center and will also include retail and entertainment space. It will be the tallest apartment building in New England (completed in 2006). The arena also hosted WrestleMania XI in 1995.
• Hartford Stage - One of the country's top regional theatres (winner of a Tony Award), dedicated to the production of classic works and new play development.
• Hartford Symphony Orchestra - Connecticut's premier musical organization widely recognized as one of America's leading regional orchestras
• The Hartt School at the University of Hartford, which is located in Hartford, West Hartford, and Bloomfield.
• Isham-Terry House- The house was built in 1854 as the residence of a business man. The house is designed in an Italian Villa style.

• The Mark Twain House and Museum- Once the home of Samuel Clemens, the house is now a museum located in the city's west end on Farmington Avenue.
• Old State House - The Old State House (1796) was the first in the U.S., designed by Charles Bulfinch, and recently restored with a gold-leafed dome rising from its top. The Old State House sits facing the Connecticut River in Downtown.
• Pope Park, Hartford, Connecticut
• Real Art Ways is one of the oldest alternative art spaces in the United States. It hosts a vigorous schedule of contemporary art, music, and film.
• Riverfront Recapture and Park - This park connects the downtown with the Connecticut River. It contains bike and walking trails, playing fields, and a white triangle-shaped dome covers one of the performing stages. The boat launch for a Connecticut River tour is also located here. A walkway spanning the Connecticut River leads to East Hartford.
• Saint Thomas Seminary - Located on 80 acres (324,000 m²) in Bloomfield. The seminary is three miles north of Hartford near the University of Hartford. The seminary opened in 1930 and its campus consists of rolling greens and Gothic-inspired buildings.
• Trinity College - The liberal arts college, founded in 1823, has more than 2,100 students. The college is consistently ranked as one of the top 30 liberal arts colleges in America.
• University of Connecticut School of Business - In an effort to be more accessible to part time business students, a branch of the University of Connecticut Business school opened in downtown Hartford. The building is located on Market Street just north of Constitution Plaza.
• University of Connecticut School of Law - located just off Farmington Avenue, the campus includes an extensive, large Gothic-inspired library.
• University of Hartford - The University, which was founded in 1877, sits on 340 acres (1.4 km²) with a 13 acre (53,000 m²) campus on Bloomfield Avenue situated on land divided between Hartford and West Hartford minutes from downtown. There are more than 7,200 students and 86 undergraduate majors.
• Wadsworth Atheneum of Art - The oldest art museum in the U.S. is located on Main Street in downtown Hartford right next to the Travelers Tower.

[edit] Sports

Club	Sport	League	Venue
Hartford Wolf Pack	Ice Hockey	American Hockey League	Hartford Civic Center

[edit] Revitalization

This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future events. It may contain information of a tentative nature and the content may change dramatically as the event approaches and more information becomes available.

In the last few years, Hartford has generated renewed interest with both local and national developers who are investing heavily in the city through a variety of projects, all of which are in different stages. These investments include everything from commercial and residential projects such as Hartford 21 to a new science center, an extensive system of riverfront trails and parks, neighborhood improvements to Park Street and Parkville, the renovation of the historic Colt building to National Park standards, and significant development in the central business district.

In 1997, the city lost its professional hockey franchise, the Hartford Whalers, but efforts are being made to bring an NHL team back to the city. City officials and developers are talking about the possibility of a new city stadium to house this team.

Currently there are more than 1 billion dollars worth of private and publicly funded projects happening throughout the city's 17 neighborhoods and also in neighboring East Hartford and other suburbs. The overlying theme for development in the city was to create more activity downtown and reconnect Constitution Plaza to the waterfront, which was cut off when Interstate 91 was constructed. A majority of the development happening in the city is downtown, but improvements are now starting to be felt in all of the city's neighborhoods.

Some of the major projects include:

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. The project includes the 540,000 square foot Connecticut Convention Center, which opened in June 2005 and is the largest meeting space between New York City and Boston. The CT Convention Center has been the site of labor injustice. Attached to the convention center is the 22-story, 409 room Marriott Hartford Hotel-Downtown which opened in August 2005. Being constructed next to the convention center and hotel is the 140,000 square foot Connecticut Science Center. The final component of the project is "Front Street", which sits across from the convention center and is the retail, entertainment and residential component of the entire project. Publicly funded parts of the project will include transportation improvements (see below). There have been significant delays in the Front Street project, with the first developer being removed from the project because of lack of progress. The city has choses 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 again to get the project moving. There has been talk of bringing an ESPN Zone to the Front Street retail space, which would make sense considering that ESPN is headquartered in nearby Bristol. On the back side of Front Street, the historic Beaux-Arts Hartford Times Building is being converted into the home of administrative offices for the Wadsworth Atheneum. In 2004 Underground Coalition, a Connecticut hip hop promotion company, produced The First Annual Hartford Hip Hop festival, which also took place at the Adriaen's Landing. The event drew over 5,000 hip hop enthusiasts from throughout New England to the Hartford waterfront.

Hartford 21: Recently completed, on the site of the Hartford Civic Center Mall, the project includes a 36 story residential tower—the tallest residential tower between New York City and Boston. Attached to the tower is 90,000 square feet of office space and 45,000 square feet of retail space, all of which is contained in a connected complex. The Greater Hartford YMCA has opened in the complex and will soon be closing its Jewell Street site which will be knocked down for another project. Bliss Market, a gourmet grocery, will give Downtown residents an additional place to purchase food. Rose Gourmet, a small grocery and deli, already exists about a block away on Pratt Street. The Hartford Civic Center Arena remains open and hosts the AHL Hartford Wolfpack and the UConn men's and women's basketball teams, as well as shows and concerts.

Capital Community College at the G. Fox Department Store: The 913,000 square foot former home of the G. Fox & Company Department Store on Main Street recently underwent a complete renovation and is now the new home of Capital Community College as well as offices for the State of Connecticut and ground level retail space. On Thursdays, vendors sell crafts on the Main Street level. Two music clubs, Mezzanine and Room 960, are housed in the building.

Connecticut Culinary Institute: The school recently relocated its main campus to the former Hastings Hotel and Conference Center, which is next to Aetna headquarters in the city's Asylum Hill neighborhood just west of downtown. The school also has a branch campus in Suffield, Connecticut. The Hastings Hotel and Conference Center, which closed abruptly in 2004, was the hotel where former President Bill Clinton stayed when he was in the city. The Culinary Institute took a hit when one of its chefs was arrested for allegedly poisoning a mousse pie at a Connecticut school.

Rentschler Field: Though in neighboring East Hartford, the stadium for UConn football was part of the revitalization plan for Hartford and was built on some of the lands donated by United Technologies. The bulk of the land donated will be used for technology, entertainment, lodging and retail development.

Transportation and parking improvements: Some roads were turned into pedestrian walkways to reduce gridlock, while other roads were widened or made one-way. Some intersections were also improved to better handle traffic. A large parking garage was built downtown to ease parking problems. A series of shuttle routes was created, known originally as the "Downtown Circulator Project" and now run by the Greater Hartford Transit District.

New condos and apartments:

• Trumbull on the Park: This apartment community recently opened along Bushnell Park, housed in a new 11 story brick building and also has a parking garage and ground level retail space. Additional units are housed in recently renovated historic buildings nearby on Lewis Street.
• 55 on the Park: Formerly a SNET office building, it has been turned into luxury apartments that sit along Bushnell Park. The building reopened a few years ago and was among the first new residences to open downtown in years.
• Sage Allen Building: On Main Street, the former Sage Allen department store building is being turned into 44 4-bedroom townhouses. The project also includes the renovation of the Richardson Food Court and the reopening of Temple Street which will once again reconnect Main Street and Market Street. Many of these townhouses will be occupied by University of Hartford students which will help bring more young blood downtown.
• The Metropolitan: The former Hartford Telephone Company Building on Pearl Street is being converted into luxury condominiums.
• American Airlines Building: Located at 901 Main Street across from Capital Community College at the former G. Fox Building and the Residence Inn by Marriott in the Richardson Building, 901 Main Street was home to a Korvettes department store and later American Airlines. Today the building is being converted into condominiums with renovated ground level retail space.

[edit] Media

The city is served by the daily Hartford Courant newspaper, which is the country's oldest continuously published newspaper, founded in 1764. A weekly newspaper, the Hartford Advocate, also serves Hartford and the surrounding area, as does the The Hartford Guardian (a city-wide, quarterly conservative newsmagazine), The Hartford Independent Media Center (an independent media organization that publishes a daily blog, produces a public affairs show, and puts out a quarterly print journal) and the Hartford Business Journal ("Greater Hartford's Business Weekly").

The Hartford region is also served by several magazines. Marketing Resource Consultants, based in Hartford, publishes Hartford Magazine, a monthly glossy lifestyle magazine serving Greater Hartford; Connecticut Business, a glossy monthly serving all of Connecticut; and Home Living CT, a glossy home and garden magazine published five times a year and distributed statewide.

Several television and radio stations based in Hartford cover the entire state. These stations serve the Hartford/New Haven market, which is the 28th largest market in the U.S.

[edit] Transportation

[edit] Airports

Bradley International Airport, in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, is twenty minutes north of Hartford and serves Hartford and Springfield.

Other airports serving the Hartford area include:

• Hartford-Brainard Airport, located in Hartford off I-91 and close to Wethersfield, serves charter flights and local flights.
• John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport in New York, New York
• Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts
• Tweed New Haven Regional Airport, located in New Haven, Connecticut, is served by US Airways Express and Pan Am Clipper Connection.

[edit] Buses

Interstate bus service is provided by Bonanza Bus, Greyhound Bus and by Peter Pan Bus Lines. Additionally, there are buses for connections to smaller cities in the state. The bus station is at the train station at One Union Place in Downtown Hartford.

[edit] Highways

During the 1960s and 1970s, Hartford was something of a poster child for highway construction, and has several highways surrounding the downtown area. Still more projects were canceled, both within the city and the suburbs like the proposed I-291 beltway, due to community opposition.

I-84 runs from Danbury, on the New York border, to Union on the Massachusetts border. I-91 starts in New Haven off I-95 and continues all the way up to Canada along the Connecticut River. The two highways intersect in downtown Hartford. Their interchange remained incomplete, anticipating the extension of the Conland-Whitehead Highway to connect the two near the capitol building. This created a traffic tie-up that was unsnarled in the 1990s.

Hartford suffers from notoriously heavy traffic as a result of its suburban population, which is proportionally much larger than that of any other nearby city. As a result, thousands of people clog area highways at the start of the workday. I-84 experiences traffic from Farmington through Hartford and into East Hartford and Manchester during the rush hour. Outside of Hartford, there are delays going westbound east of the Connecticut River and delays going eastbound west of the city, while in Hartford there is traffic in both directions. I-91 has significant delays, usually south of the city in Wethersfield and Rocky Hill and north of the city in Windsor and Bloomfield.

Besides the two major interstates, the Route 2 expressway runs from Norwich in the southeastern part of the state up to East Hartford where it then intersects with I-84. There are delays through Glastonbury and East Hartford in the morning hours.

Known as the Berlin Turnpike, Routes 5 and 15 run south of the city. Before I-91, the roadway carried people from Hartford to New Haven. Along the Berlin Turnpike is an array of department stores, restaurants, and offices in Berlin, Newington, and Wethersfield. In Wethersfield, it becomes a highway-grade roadway that intersects with I-91 and I-84. Past Berlin, Route 15 becomes the Wilbur Cross Parkway in Meriden, and later, the Merritt Parkway which runs parallel to I-95 to the New York border.

West of Hartford, Route 44 runs from West Hartford up into the hills of Litchfield County and eventually into New York. East of Hartford, Route 44 runs to Putnam and into Rhode Island.

[edit] Railroad

See also: Union Station (Hartford)

Hartford's dependence on the railroad has decreased since the automobile. However, the Hartford train station at One Union Place still operates. Amtrak provides service from Hartford to Springfield, New Haven, New York, Boston, Providence, and Washington DC. The station is also a major bus station serving numerous bus companies as Hartford is a mid-way point between the popular New York to Boston route.

Currently there are preliminary plans to create a New Haven-Hartford-Springfield Commuter Rail Line with stations in communities close to I-91.

[edit] Public transport

Connecticut Transit is owned by the Connecticut Department of Transportation. CTTRANSIT operates local and commuter bus service within the city and the surrounding area. Taxi service is available from the train station at 1 Union Place or by calling one to any location in the area.

[edit] Famous Hartford residents

• Michael Adams, (b. 1963), NBA player

• Parmenio Adams, (1776–1832), United States Congressman, was born in Hartford^[5].

• Yasha Barjona a.k.a. Rahni Song, (b.1955) Grammy Nominated, Gold & Platinum Award Winning Music Producer Graduated from Weaver High School 1973^[6]

• Tony Benjaminz, (b. 1972), Producer and songwriter, former member of rap group Official Big League.

• Manute Bol, (b. 1962), former NBA player, resides in nearby West Hartford.

• L. Paul Bremer, (b. 1941), ex- Administrator of Iraq and foreign service officer.

• Amy Brenneman, (b. 1964), grew up in Glastonbury. She adapted the experiences of her mother, a Connecticut Superior Court judge in Hartford, into the television series Judging Amy.

• Oliver Butterworth, (1915–1990), children's author and educator.

• Marcus Camby , (b. 1974), NBA player
• Ann Corio, (1914–1999), burlesque star, was from Hartford.

• Dominick Dunne (b. 1925) and John Gregory Dunne, (1932-2003), famous writers, were born in Hartford and grew up in West Hartford.

• Johnny Egan, (b. 1939) NBA player

• Totie Fields, (1930–1978), comedian, born and raised in Hartford.

• Dwight Freeney, (b. 1980), (NFL Indianapolis Colts) and Nykesha Sales, (b. 1976), (WNBA Connecticut Sun) were also born in the Hartford area. They resided in the northwest suburb of Bloomfield and grew up within brief walking distance of each other on Farmstead Circle. Both attended Bloomfield High School and were All State(CIAC) varsity athletes in football and basketball respectively.

• Katharine Hepburn, (1907-2003), the actress, was born in Hartford and lived on both Hawthorne and Laurel Street.

• Laura Ingraham, (born June 19, 1964 in Glastonbury, Connecticut) the American conservative talk radio host and author.

• Ann Iverson, (b. 1960), mother of basketball player Allen Iverson.^[7]

• George Keller, (1842–1935), the architect, lived in Hartford until his death. He designed the Soldier's and Sailor's Arch, the Hartford Train Station, and the Garfield Memorial in Cleveland, Ohio. His ashes, along with the ashes of his wife, Mary, are interred in turrets of the arch he designed.

• Stephen Cole Kleene, (1909–1994), mathematician

• Barbara Kolb, (b. 1939), composer

• Eriq La Salle, (b. 1962), of the television show ER was born and raised in Hartford.

• Norman Lear, (b. 1922), went to Weaver High School in Hartford.

• Rick Mahorn, (b. 1958), of the NBA is from Hartford.

• Eric Mangini, (b. 1971), New York Jets Head Coach, born in Hartford.

• Mark McGrath, (b. 1968), lead singer of Sugar Ray was born in Hartford.

• Jackie McLean, (1931-2006), jazz alto saxophonist and educator

• Terry Moor, (born 1952), a former professional tennis player who was born in Hartford, and who won two singles and three doubles titles during his career. The left-hander became the number 32 of the world on October 29, 1984.

• Bill Morrissey, (b. 1951), singer

• Jim Murray, (1919–1998), longtime sports columnist of the Los Angeles Times was born and raised in Hartford.

• Frederick Law Olmsted, (1822-1903), the renowned urban and suburban planner famous for many of the New York City Parks and Stanford University's campus, was born, raised and educated in Hartford.

• Jeff Porcaro, (1954–1992), Steve Porcaro, (b. 1957), Mike Porcaro of the rock band Toto were born in Hartford. Lived early years in South Windsor before moving to Los Angeles. Father Joe Porcaro is well known as a session and drum instructor.

• Charles Nelson Reilly, (b. 1931), actor.

• Jeff Simmons, (b. 1976), Indy Racing League driver.

• Wallace Stevens, (1879–1955), the poet, was an insurance executive in Hartford.

• Harriet Beecher Stowe, (1811–1896), originally from the Litchfield area, but settled in Hartford during the 1870s. Her house on Forest Street is now open to the public and is right next to that of Mark Twain's.

• Phil Tonken (1919-2000), longtime staff announcer at New York station WOR-AM-TV, was born in Hartford.

• Sophie Tucker, (1884–1966), comedian, born and raised in Hartford.

• Mark Twain (1835–1910), moved to Hartford in 1874 and lived in Hartford for a number of years. The Mark Twain House is a national historic site. Twain, whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, wrote many of his most famous works in Hartford, including The Gilded Age, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Roughing It, and his most read and controversial, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

• Theodore Wirth (1863–1949) Horticulturalist and park planner

[edit] Sister cities

Because of Hartford's diverse population the city has numerous sister cities. They include:

• Hertford, England: The town has a population of about 24,000 and serves and has many commuters to London. The town has a country feel but is also only 20 miles north of London.
• Floridia, Italy: A small suburb of Siracusa that is located on the southeastern coast of the island of Sicily.
• Thessaloniki, Greece This port city is Greece's second largest city, with a population approaching 1 million people.
• Mangualde, Portugal: A small town in Centro Region that is very close to the Serra de Estrela Mountains.
• Bydgoszcz, Poland: A city in north-central Poland. It is part of the metroplex Bydgoszcz-Toruń with Toruń, only 45 km away, and over 850,000 inhabitants.
• Caguas, Puerto Rico: A midsized city in central Puerto Rico.
• Freetown, Sierra Leone: This city is the capital of Sierra Leone.
• Morant Bay, Jamaica: A town in southeastern Jamaica. It was the starting point of the only peasant rebellion in Jamaican history.
• New Ross, Ireland: A small town on the coast of the Irish Sea, south of Dublin. It is the ancestral home of the Kennedy family.
• Ocotal, Nicaragua: It is a large town in northern Nicaragua.

[edit] Appearances in popular culture

• The city was the setting for the Amy Brenneman series Judging Amy, which aired on CBS from 1999-2005.
• Many scenes in the WB/CW series Gilmore Girls take place in Hartford, where Rory's prep school (Chilton Academy) is located, and Lorelai's parents and several of her past love interests reside.
• Was the site of a nuclear explosion in the CBS television drama Jericho.
• It was the prize in a radio contest on the Fox animated sitcom The Simpsons.
• Hartford was the setting for the 2002 movie, Far From Heaven.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• About Hartford - from About.com
• Hartford.gov - Official Hartford website
• Hartford.com of DTG.net- Diversified Technology Group, Inc.
• MetroHartford.com - Metro Hartford Alliance
• Hartford travel guide from Wikitravel
• Hartford Info Center - Information about Hartford, CT
• Capital City Economic Development Authority
• Hartford Convention and Visitor's Bureau
• HartfordInfo.org -- Information and Data about Hartford and its Neighborhoods
• Hartford, Connecticut: Landmarks, History, Neighborhoods
• List of tallest buildings in Hartford
• Central Regional Tourism District
• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 41.767° -72.677°
  • Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA

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