Hartford

Founded in 1635, Hartford is among the oldest cities in the United States. It is home to the country's oldest continuously operating public art museum (Wadsworth Atheneum), the second oldest publicly funded park (Bushnell Park), the oldest continuously published newspaper (the Hartford Courant), the second-oldest secondary school (Hartford Public High School), and the oldest school for deaf children (American School for the Deaf), founded by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet in 1817. It is the location of the Mark Twain House, in which the author Mark Twain wrote his most famous works and raised his family. He wrote in 1868, "Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see this is the chief."

Hartford alternated with New Haven as dual capitals of Connecticut from 1664, and Hartford has been the sole capital since 1875. Hartford was the richest city in the United States for several decades following the American Civil War.