Who founded Hartford and when?
About 100 Puritans, led by the Rev. Thomas Hooker, created a settlement on the banks of the Connecticut River in June 1636. Though this became Hartford, Hooker and his followers were not the first Europeans on the scene. Dutch traders had already built a fort at the confluence of the Connecticut and Park rivers. (For more on their fate, visit the Adriaen’s Landing section of this site.) Nevertheless, Hooker not only created a lasting colony but a form of government that influenced the creation of the U.S. Constitution a century and a half later. See below for more on Hooker. Visit the Connecticut State Library site for a list of the other founders.
