West Hartford, Connecticut

West Hartford is a town located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. Located 5 miles (8.0 km) 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.

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."

Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford is the capital of Connecticut and the historic seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making it Connecticut's fourth-largest city after the coastal cities of Bridgeport, New Haven, and Stamford.

Nicknamed the "Insurance Capital of the World", Hartford houses many insurance company headquarters, and insurance remains the region's major industry. Founded in 1637, Hartford is among the oldest cities in the United States. Hartford is home to the nation's oldest public art museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum; the oldest publicly funded park, Bushnell Park; the oldest continuously published newspaper, The Hartford Courant; the second-oldest secondary school, Hartford Public; Trinity College, an elite, private liberal arts college, and the Mark Twain House where the author wrote his most famous works and raised his family, among other historically significant attractions. In 1868, resident Mark Twain wrote, "Of all the beautiful towns it has been my fortune to see this is the chief."

Flatbush Avenue (CDOT station)

Flatbush Avenue is a bus rapid transit station on the CTfastrak line, located near the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and New Park Avenue in West Hartford, Connecticut. It opened with the line on March 28, 2015. The station consists of one island platform to the side of the busway, with passing lanes to allow express buses to pass buses stopped at the station.

Railroad history

The New York and New England Railroad (and predecessor Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad) operated a station named Charter Oak Park at Oakwood Street slightly to the south, serving the Charter Oak Park racing track and the Luna Park recreation area. It opened with the track in 1874, was rebuilt in 1900, and likely closed with the track in 1940. The New Haven Railroad had an adjacent Oakwood station on its parallel Springfield Line; it opened in 1874 and was closed in the late 1890s after the New Haven's purchase of the NY&NE rendered it redundant.

Future plans

The Hartford Line will open commuter rail service between New Haven, Connecticut and Springfield, Massachusetts via Hartford in early 2018. It will initially connect to CTfastrak at Union Station. Hartford Line stations adjacent to the CTfastrak stops at West Hartford (Flatbush Avenue) and Newington Junction are planned to open later.

Connecticut

Connecticut (ⁱ/kəˈnɛtᵻkət/ kə-NET-i-kət) is the southernmost state in the region of the United States known as New England. Connecticut is also often grouped along with New York and New Jersey as the Tri-State area. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital city is Hartford, and its most populous city is Bridgeport. The state is named after the Connecticut River, a major U.S. river that approximately bisects the state. The word "Connecticut" is derived from various anglicized spellings of an Algonquian word for "long tidal river."

Connecticut is the third smallest state by area, the 29th most populous, and the fourth most densely populated of the 50 United States. It is known as the "Constitution State", the "Nutmeg State", the "Provisions State", and the "Land of Steady Habits". It was influential in the development of the federal government of the United States. Much of southern and western Connecticut (along with the majority of the state's population) is part of the New York metropolitan area: three of Connecticut's eight counties are statistically included in the New York City combined statistical area, which is widely referred to as the Tri-State area. Connecticut's center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County, which is also located within the Tri-State area.

Connecticut River

The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States. Flowing roughly southward for 406.12 miles (653.59 km) through four U.S. states, the Connecticut rises at the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island Sound. Its watershed encompasses five U.S. states and one Canadian province – 11,260 square miles (29,200 km²) – via 148 tributaries, 38 of which are major rivers. Discharging at 19,600 cubic feet (560 m³) per second, the Connecticut produces 70% of Long Island Sound's freshwater.

The Connecticut River Valley is home to some of the northeastern United States' most productive farmland, as well as a metropolitan region of approximately 2 million people surrounding Springfield, Massachusetts, and the state of Connecticut's capital, Hartford.

Etymology

The word "Connecticut" is a French corruption of the Mohegan word quinetucket, which means "beside the long, tidal river". The word "Connecticut" came into existence during the early 1600s, describing the river, which was also called simply "The Great River".

Connecticut (disambiguation)

Connecticut may refer to:

See also