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West Hartford is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. Located west of downtown Hartford, is an upmarket inner-ring suburb located in Greater Hartford. The population was 63,268 at the 2010 census. The town has a downtown area called "West Hartford Center," centered on Farmington Avenue and South/North Main Street. West Hartford Center has been the community's hub since the late 17th century. In 2008, Blue Back Square opened as a new addition to the central area.〔Blue Back Square〕 The town was incorporated in 1854. Prior to that date, the town was a parish of Hartford. Among the southernmost of the communities encompassed within the Hartford-Springfield Knowledge Corridor metropolitan region, West Hartford is home to University of Hartford and the University of Saint Joseph. In 2010, ''Kiplinger's Personal Finance'' magazine listed West Hartford as one of the nation's "10 Great Cities for Raising Families." In 2010, ''Kiplinger's'' ranked West Hartford #9 on its "10 Best Cities for the Next Decade" list. In 2010, CNN Money ranked West Hartford as the 55th best small city in America. In 2010, the national online magazine ''Travelandleisure.com'' cited West Hartford as one of 10 "coolest" suburbs in the nation. The magazine called the West Hartford Reservoir off Farmington Avenue "West Hartford's version of Central Park," and it also noted the town's "vacation-worthy hot spots, with cutting-edge restaurants, great shopping, and plenty of parking." == History == According to archeological 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 a refuge from the cold winter wind and the river's spring flooding. In 1636 Reverend Thomas Hooker led a group of followers from what is now Cambridge, Massachusetts to the "Great River" and established the Hartford 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 to the South was 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 just north of the present Center. In 1679, Stephen Hosmer's father sent him to establish a sawmill on the property. Young Hosmer would go back to live in Hartford, but in his 1693 estate inventory, in West Hartford along with a house and a sawmill are listed. For nearly a century the property would be handed down through the family. Evidence still remains of the Town's first industry, as Stephen Hosmer's mill pond and dam can still be found on the west side of North Main Street. By the time of the American Revolution, the once rugged wilderness had been largely clear and an agricultural-based community had developed with a population of 1,000 residents and 3,000 sheep. At its core was the parish meeting house. The first Congregational meeting house was built around 1712 at what is now the northwest corner of Main Street and Farmington Avenue. As the focus of early religious, political, and social life, the meeting house helped to provide this area with a name, a title that it still holds today – "The Center." Evidence in the Hartford Courant and in the 1790s census show that some of the more prosperous households relied on laborers and slaves for fieldwork and domestic help. The Sarah Whitman Hooker House was one such residence and still stands on New Britain Avenue. Evidence shows that the Hookers owned several slaves. One such slave, Bristow, bought his freedom in 1775 to fight in the Revolutionary War. slave for whom one of West Hartford's middle schools is named, Bristow bought his freedom from Thomas Hart Hooker in April 1775 as Hooker set off to fight in the Revolutionary War. Bristow continued to live with the family after Thomas Hart Hooker was killed in the war. Bristow became an agricultural expert and left his property to the Hookers' two children when he died. He is the only known African American to be buried in West Hartford's Old Center Burial Yard. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「West Hartford, Connecticut」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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