Why is Hartford known as the Insurance City?
Like so much about Hartford, the story begins at the Connecticut River. The city rose to prominence in the 1700s as a river port, serving as a conduit for goods arriving from or heading to places like England, Bermuda, and the Far East. River captains, who met frequently on the wharves and in coffee houses, often arranged to share voyage risks and profits. From these informal arrangements, the Hartford insurance industry sprang, eventually offering much more than marine coverage. In 1794, wealthy Hartford merchant Jeremiah Wadsworth and some friends began offering fire insurance on an informal basis. In 1810, the Connecticut General Assembly awarded a charter to the state’s first publicly owned insurance firm, The Hartford Fire Insurance Co. The Aetna Fire Insurance Co. opened for business nine years later. But the city’s reputation as a reliable insurer wasn’t made until the calamitous New York City fires of 1835 and 1845, when Hartford companies fulfilled their payment promises, whil
