Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford is the capital of Connecticut and the largest metropolitan area in the state. The city traces its roots back to a Dutch trading fort established in the early 17th century. The English settlement of the city began in 1638 when Thomas Hooker, a prominent Puritan minister, led 100 of his parishioners to the city. Later Hooker would deliver a sermon that inspired the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (a precursor to the U.S. Constitution), many credit him with motivating a new view of self-government.

Due to its early founding Hartford is blessed with a wide array of historic buildings and notable landmarks. Besides the capital building, Trinity College, and the University of Hartford the city is also home to the Mark Twain House, a sprawling gothic-revival mansion, and Wadsworth Atheneum, the oldest public art museum in the United States. Due to the large concentration of cultural and learning institutions the Hartford-Springfield area has been monikered as New England's Knowledge Corridor.

Despite its status as a place of refined cultural offerings the city of Hartford still experiences many urban problems. Like many manufacturing cities of the 19th and early 20th centuries jobs fell off in the early 1960s leading to blight, urban unrest, and white flight. People with the means to leave the city started moving into the suburbs and as the years went by people kept moving farther out. By the beginning of the 21st century, many workers in Hartford lived in towns located more than a twenty-minute daily commute from the city. This has left an eroded urban core with a weak tax base and many social and health problems. Hartford has long been known for having one of the largest gaps between the suburban rich and inner-city poor in country. However, this trend is starting to reverse as the downtown has seen an influx of hundreds of luxury apartments spurring a commercial and retail rebirth.

Much of this rebirth has occurred because of a renewed interest in the city's downtown and a host of new-urbanist construction projects. The downtown is home to many large companies and workers, stressed by long commutes, have been eager to move closer to the office. Sometimes referred to as the "insurance capital of the world," Hartford houses many of the world's insurance company headquarters, as well as the military contractors United Technologies Corporation and Colt Firearms.

New building projects in downtown Hartford include: the renovation of the historic Colt building, the construction of Rentschler Field (the stadium for UConn football), the renovation of the G. Fox Department Store (for CCC), the Connecticut Convention Center, and the recently-completed Hartford 21 (the largest residential tower between New York and Boston).