Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was also the seat of Hartford County, until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960.
Hartford is the largest city in the Capitol Planning Region and the core city of the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the 2010 United States census have indicated that Hartford is the fourth-largest city in Connecticut with a 2020 population of 121,054, behind the coastal cities of Bridgeport, New Haven, and Stamford.Founded in 1635, Hartford is among the oldest cities in the United States. It is home to the country's oldest public art museum (Wadsworth Atheneum), the oldest publicly funded park (Bushnell Park), the oldest continuously published newspaper (the Hartford Courant), and the second-oldest secondary school (Hartford Public High School). It was home to the oldest "asylum for the deaf and dumb" the (American School for the Deaf), founded by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet in 1817.