History of Hartford, Connecticut

The History of Hartford, Connecticut has occupied a central place in Connecticut's history from the state's origins to the present, as well as the greater history of the United States of America.

Here is a partial list of some of the 163 men and women listed in the Book of Distribution of Land as being those who settled in Hartford, Connecticut before February 1640. The full list of names is on a monument in Hartford's Ancient Burying Ground.

There are later settlers who lived in Hartford in the 17th century, but are not considered Founders of Hartford. Proof of descent from any of these people permits admission in the Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford, which was started in 1931.

Dutch fur traders from New Amsterdam, now New York City, set up trade on the site as early as 1623, following Adriaen Block's exploration in 1614. The Dutch named their post Fort Goede Hoop or the 'Hope House' (Huys de Hoop) and helped expand the New Netherland colony, roughly analogous to the modern-day New York, New Jersey & Connecticut Tri-State Region, to the banks of the Connecticut River. Prior to the Dutch arrival, the Native Americans who inhabited the area had called it Suckiaug. By 1633, Jacob van Curler had added a block house and palisade to the post and New Amsterdam had sent a small garrison and pair of cannons. The fort was abandoned by 1654, but its neighborhood in Hartford is still known as Dutch Point.

The first English settlers arrived in 1635. Pastor Thomas Hooker and Governor John Haynes led 100 settlers with 130 head of cattle in a trek from Newtown (now Cambridge, Massachusetts) in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and started their settlement just north of the Dutch fort. The settlement was originally called Newtown, but was changed to Hartford in 1637 to honor the English town of Hertford the explorer also created the town of Windsor(created in 1633).These towns have been here for over 375 years.

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