West Hartford Connecticut History & Facts

West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, 5 miles (8.0 km) west of downtown Hartford. The population was 64,083 at the 2020 census.

The town's popular downtown area is colloquially known as "West Hartford Center," or simply "The Center," and is centered on Farmington Avenue and South/North Main Street. West Hartford Center has been the community's main hub since the late 17th century.

Incorporated as a town in 1854, West Hartford was previously a parish of Hartford, founded in 1672. Among the southernmost of the communities in the Hartford-Springfield Knowledge Corridor metropolitan region, West Hartford is home to University of Hartford and the University of Saint Joseph.

West Hartford is home to regular events which draw large crowds from neighboring towns, including the Elizabeth Park Concert Series. The town also hosts the annual Celebrate West Hartford event, which includes fairground rides, food vendors, and stalls by local businesses.

According to archaeological evidence, the Wampanoag people used West Hartford as one of their winter camps. Fishing and hunting along the Connecticut River, the area of West Hartford offered the Wampanoag people a refuge from the cold winter wind and the river's severe spring flooding. In 1636 Reverend Thomas Hooker led a group of followers from what is now Cambridge, Massachusetts to the "Great River" and established Hartford, Connecticut and the Connecticut Colony. As the colony grew, additional land was needed. In 1672 the Proprietors of Hartford ordered that a Division be created to the West. A total of "72 Long Lots" were laid out between today's Quaker Lane in the East and Mountain Road in the West. The northern boundary was Bloomfield, and the Southern, present day New Britain Avenue. (The western boundary was extended in 1830 to include part of Farmington). In the 1670s, the area was referred to as the "West Division" of Hartford. This remained the official name until 1806 when Connecticut General Assembly started referring to it as "the Society of West Hartford."

It is believed that the first homesteader to West Hartford was Stephen Hosmer whose father was in Hooker's first group of Hartford settlers and who later owned 300 acres (1,200,000 m2) just north of the present day Center. In 1679, Stephen Hosmer's father sent him to establish a sawmill on the property. Young Hosmer would eventually go back to live in Hartford, but in his 1693 estate inventory, 310 acres (1,300,000 m2) in West Hartford along with a house and a sawmill are listed. For nearly a century the property would be handed down throughout the family. Evidence still remains of the Town's first industry, as Stephen Hosmer's mill pond and dam can still be found today on the westernmost side of North Main Street.

Famous Peoples From West Hartford Connecticut

Charles Hobby Pond

(April 26, 1781 – April 28, 1861) was an American politician who was the 42nd and 44th Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut (1850 to 1853) and who served as the 37th Governor for seven months (1853–1854) after the resignation of Governor Thomas Hart Seymour. He was named after his direct ancestor Sir Charles Hobby who was knighted by Queen Anne in 1705.

Born in Milford, Connecticut on April 26, 1781, Pond was the son of Captain and Martha (Miles) Pond. Prepared by his pastor, he attended college beginning at age seventeen and graduated from Yale University in 1802. He studied law with Hon. Roger Minot Sherman, of Fairfield, for two years and admitted to the bar in Fairfield County. Instead of beginning practice, he took a long sea voyage for his health and it suited him so well that he took another. The result was he followed the sea for several years as an employee of his father's shipping business; first as a supercargo, then as captain. Regaining his former health he took up his residence on land again. He was married in 1809 to Catherine Dickinson and they had seven children.

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