 | Parts of this article (those related to demographics) need to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(November 2023) |
Hartford, Wisconsin | |
|---|---|
 Downtown Hartford onWIS 83 | |
 Location of Hartford in Washington (east) and Dodge (west) counties, Wisconsin | |
  Hartford  Hartford | |
| Coordinates:43°19′6″N88°22′44″W / 43.31833°N 88.37889°W /43.31833; -88.37889 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Wisconsin |
| Counties | Washington,Dodge |
| Area | |
• Total | 8.51 sq mi (22.04 km2) |
| • Land | 8.43 sq mi (21.83 km2) |
| • Water | 0.081 sq mi (0.21 km2) |
| Elevation | 981 ft (299 m) |
| Population | |
• Total | 14,223 |
• Estimate (2019)[4] | 15,445 |
| • Density | 1,832.6/sq mi (707.57/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP Codes | 53027, 53078, 53086 |
| Area code | 262 |
| FIPS code | 55-33000[5] |
| GNIS feature ID | 1566104[2] |
| Website | www |
Hartford is a city inWashington andDodge counties in theU.S. state ofWisconsin. As of the2020 census, the city had a population of 16,000. All of this population resided in Washington County; the portion of the city in Dodge County consists of only industrial and commercial parcels. Located approximately 38 miles (61 km) northwest of downtownMilwaukee and 22 miles (35 km) from city limits, Hartford is located on the outer edge of theMilwaukee metropolitan area.
In the early 19th century, Hartford was inhabited by thePotawatomi andMenominee people, who had a trading post on the Rubicon River and a village on the eastern shore ofPike Lake. In 1831, the Menominee surrendered their claims to the land to the United States Federal Government through theTreaty of Washington, and the Potawatomi surrendered their land claims in 1833 through the1833 Treaty of Chicago, which (after being ratified in 1835) required them to leave the area by 1838.[6][7] However, when the first White settlers arrived in 1843, they found that the Potawatomi were still living at the Pike Lake village.[8] Some Native Americans remained in the area and were referred to as "strolling Potawatomi" in contemporary documents because many of them were migrants who subsisted bysquatting on their ancestral lands, which were now owned by White settlers. Eventually the Potawatomi who evaded forced removal gathered in northern Wisconsin, where they formed theForest County Potawatomi Community.[9]
In July 1843, Timothy Hall became the first White person to purchase and settle land in the Hartford area, although when he arrived he found a Canadian named Jehial Case squatting near his land. Later that year, German immigrant settlers John Thiel and Nicolaus Simon surveyed the Hartford area and determined that the Rubicon River would be a suitable location for a hydropowered mill. The following year, James and George Rossman joined Simon and Thiel's venture. The men purchased forty acres abutting the rapids of the Rubicon River[10] and constructed a dam and a sawmill that harnessed the river's power to make lumber from theold-growth forests covering the area.[11] In 1846, a third Rossman brother, Charles, arrived in Hartford and constructed agristmill to process grain grown by the settlers.[12] On January 31, 1846, the land was incorporated as the Town of Wright, before the name was changed to theTown of Hartford in February 1847,[13] afterHartford, Connecticut. Many of the original settlers wereYankees fromNew England and were part of a wave of farmers who headed west in the early 1800s, though some other settlers—including Theil and Simon—were German immigrants. The early settlers cleared land for farming; constructed roads; created a post office;[14][15] erected churches, starting with theFirst Congregational Church of Hartford which formed in 1847 and followed by Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, and Catholic churches in the 1850s;[16] and established businesses to serve the town's agricultural economy, including equipment wholesalers, general stores, and dry goods dealers.[17]
TheLa Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad was constructed through the community in 1855, with Louis Thiel, son of surveyor John Thiel, being a gatekeeper at the St. Paul railroad.[17] And while rail connections were important to Hartford's growth into the early 1900s,[18] the company failed in 1861. Many local landowners had taken out mortgages on land for the railroad in exchange for company shares. The company's failure left the landowners with mortgages to pay off, creating a local crisis in which some families were forced to sell their farms. TheHartford Home League newspaper started during the crisis to advocate for the farmers.[17][19]
The community's early years saw increasing tension between the settlers and Native Americans. For example, on August 25, 1861, a group of approximately a dozen Native Americans was living nearHoricon Marsh, northwest of Hartford. They owned a horse, which got loose and wandered into a neighboring settler's cornfield. The settler shot and killed the horse, and the Native Americans vowed to take revenge. The story traveled quickly, becoming increasingly exaggerated as it spread. By the time the story reached Hartford on August 26, the dozen peaceful Native Americans had been transfigured into an army of 5,000 warriors preparing to massacre the settlers in the area. Many able-bodied men in Hartford armed themselves, formed a war party, and set out to fight the Native Americans. But when they arrived at Horicon Marsh they found that the threat was entirely fictional. The incident caused widespread fear among the local Native American community as well as in the surrounding settler communities.[20][21]
Hartford incorporated as a city in 1883. While Hartford had a large German-American population in the 19th century and was home to several German cultural associations, including the HartfordTurners, the HartfordSchützenverein, and a chapter of theSons of Hermann,[16] the Germans in Hartford tended to be more assimilated than Germans in other Washington County communities. In 1912, one historian observed that in Washington County "there have always been places where the American [culture] predominated. Take the example of the two cities in the county. Hartford always was more of an American community than West Bend."[22]
In the final decades of the 1800s and first years of the 1900s, Hartford's economy shifted from being a small market town serving the local farmers to being a larger industrial community. In 1906, theKissel Motor Car Company opened and quickly became the community's largest employer, creating hundreds of jobs and bringing European immigrant laborers into the community. Hartford was also home to the International Stamping Company, which manufactured automobile parts; the Hartford Canning Company,[17] which processed local farmers' crops such as peas, which were acash crop in the area;[23] the knitting mills of the Paramount Knitting Company; a glove factory; three tanneries, and a brewery.[24]
DuringWorld War II, Hartford's factories contributed to the war effort. The Kissel car factory, which was sold to the West Bend Aluminum Company in 1944, was retooled to makeshell casings, rocket containers, affordable kitchenware and canisters for gas masks. The Hartford Canning Company produced military rations.[17] In the summer of 1944, the U.S. military tried to fill labor shortages in the Hartford area by contracting Germanprisoners of war to work on pea farms. Initially, the prisoners were transported from a requisitioned hotel on Lake Keesus inWaukesha County. In October 1944, the military requisitioned the Schwartz Ballroom on Jefferson Street (operating as the "Chandelier Ballroom" as of 2020)[25] to serve as aprisoner of war camp for 600 Germans. The prisoners were contracted to work on farms as well as in canneries, hemp mills, dairy facilities and tanneries. The camp closed in January 1946 and the prisoners were repatriated to Germany.[26]
Hartford's population grew during thepost–World War II economic expansion. The population more than doubled between 1950 and 1960, and the community has continued to grow in subsequent decades. While many of the early 20th century manufacturers, including the Kissel Motor Car Company, have closed, Hartford is home to several large manufacturers, includingBroan-NuTone, which manufactures ventilation systems. In 1990, the city annexed land from the neighboringTown of Rubicon inDodge County to expand its industrial zone.[27]
Several buildings are listed on theNational Register of Historic Places and among them are some of the Kissel houses as well as houses they built for others.
The Hartford post office contains an oil on canvas mural,Autumn Wisconsin Landscape, painted in 1940 byEthel Spears. It was produced for theSection of Painting and Sculpture (later theSection of Fine Arts) of theTreasury Department as part of theWPADepression-era employment projects.[28]
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 8.02 square miles (20.77 km2), of which, 7.94 square miles (20.56 km2) is land and 0.08 square miles (0.21 km2) is water.[29]
Hartford is located within theKettle Moraine, a largemoraine formed when the Green Bay and Lake Michigan Lobes collided. These glacial movements created varied land formations such askettles, lakes, hills, andkames that distinguish the region.[10]
The city was the site of anF1tornado on June 18, 2006, which caused minor damage to homes in the area, and major damage on the city's south side. Lincoln Elementary School and the Silver Bell Motel both suffered roof and structural damage.[30]
| Climate data for Hartford, Wisconsin (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1897–1901, 1953–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 55 (13) | 69 (21) | 83 (28) | 88 (31) | 94 (34) | 100 (38) | 105 (41) | 101 (38) | 97 (36) | 89 (32) | 75 (24) | 65 (18) | 105 (41) |
| Mean maximum °F (°C) | 45.6 (7.6) | 50.3 (10.2) | 65.0 (18.3) | 77.1 (25.1) | 85.1 (29.5) | 90.4 (32.4) | 91.1 (32.8) | 89.2 (31.8) | 86.9 (30.5) | 79.1 (26.2) | 63.9 (17.7) | 50.2 (10.1) | 93.2 (34.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 25.9 (−3.4) | 29.9 (−1.2) | 41.3 (5.2) | 54.3 (12.4) | 66.7 (19.3) | 76.6 (24.8) | 80.2 (26.8) | 78.6 (25.9) | 71.8 (22.1) | 58.7 (14.8) | 43.8 (6.6) | 31.3 (−0.4) | 54.9 (12.7) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 17.2 (−8.2) | 20.7 (−6.3) | 31.5 (−0.3) | 43.7 (6.5) | 55.5 (13.1) | 65.5 (18.6) | 69.2 (20.7) | 67.4 (19.7) | 60.1 (15.6) | 47.9 (8.8) | 34.8 (1.6) | 23.3 (−4.8) | 44.7 (7.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 8.5 (−13.1) | 11.4 (−11.4) | 21.7 (−5.7) | 33.2 (0.7) | 44.3 (6.8) | 54.4 (12.4) | 58.2 (14.6) | 56.2 (13.4) | 48.4 (9.1) | 37.1 (2.8) | 25.9 (−3.4) | 15.4 (−9.2) | 34.6 (1.4) |
| Mean minimum °F (°C) | −13.9 (−25.5) | −9.2 (−22.9) | 1.5 (−16.9) | 20.5 (−6.4) | 31.1 (−0.5) | 41.5 (5.3) | 48.1 (8.9) | 45.3 (7.4) | 34.2 (1.2) | 23.7 (−4.6) | 10.9 (−11.7) | −4.5 (−20.3) | −18.3 (−27.9) |
| Record low °F (°C) | −35 (−37) | −34 (−37) | −23 (−31) | 1 (−17) | 20 (−7) | 31 (−1) | 39 (4) | 36 (2) | 23 (−5) | 9 (−13) | −11 (−24) | −29 (−34) | −35 (−37) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 1.52 (39) | 1.26 (32) | 1.78 (45) | 3.43 (87) | 3.82 (97) | 4.77 (121) | 3.89 (99) | 3.74 (95) | 3.23 (82) | 2.91 (74) | 2.06 (52) | 1.68 (43) | 34.09 (866) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 10.0 (25) | 9.1 (23) | 4.0 (10) | 1.4 (3.6) | 0.3 (0.76) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.3 (0.76) | 1.1 (2.8) | 10.1 (26) | 36.3 (92) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.01 in) | 9.7 | 8.4 | 8.2 | 10.7 | 12.0 | 10.9 | 9.0 | 9.2 | 8.7 | 10.0 | 8.5 | 9.2 | 114.5 |
| Average snowy days(≥ 0.1 in) | 6.2 | 5.4 | 2.7 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 4.8 | 20.8 |
| Source:NOAA[31][32] | |||||||||||||
Hartford Municipal Airport serves the city and surrounding communities. An air ambulance service has operated at the airport since 2021.
The former Milwaukee Road line between Milwaukee and Oshkosh runs through Hartford.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880 | 1,343 | — | |
| 1890 | 1,296 | −3.5% | |
| 1900 | 1,632 | 25.9% | |
| 1910 | 2,982 | 82.7% | |
| 1920 | 4,515 | 51.4% | |
| 1930 | 3,754 | −16.9% | |
| 1940 | 3,910 | 4.2% | |
| 1950 | 2,549 | −34.8% | |
| 1960 | 5,627 | 120.8% | |
| 1970 | 6,499 | 15.5% | |
| 1980 | 7,159 | 10.2% | |
| 1990 | 8,188 | 14.4% | |
| 2000 | 10,978 | 34.1% | |
| 2010 | 14,223 | 29.6% | |
| 2019 (est.) | 15,445 | [4] | 8.6% |
| U.S. Decennial Census[33] | |||
As of thecensus[3] of 2010, there were 14,223 people, 5,685 households, and 3,721 families residing in the city. Thepopulation density was 1,791.3 inhabitants per square mile (691.6/km2). There were 6,032 housing units at an average density of 759.7 units per square mile (293.3 units/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 94.7%White, 0.9%African American, 0.5%Native American, 0.8%Asian, 1.8% fromother races, and 1.2% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino people of any race were 4.8% of the population.
There were 5,685 households, of which 35.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.4% weremarried couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 34.5% were non-families. 28.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.06.
The median age in the city was 35.6 years. 26.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 29.4% were from 25 to 44; 23.1% were from 45 to 64; and 13.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.1% male and 50.9% female.
As of thecensus[5] of 2000, there were 10,978 people, 1,397 households, and 1,152 families residing in the city. Thepopulation density was 133.6 people per square mile (51.6 people/km2). There were 1,438 housing units at an average density of 47.6 units per square mile (18.4 units/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 98.88%White, 0.20%African American, 0.10%Native American, 0.37%Asian, 0.15% fromother races, and 0.30% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino people of any race were 0.55% of the population.
There were 1,397 households, out of which 40.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 74.7% weremarried couples living together, 4.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 17.5% were non-families. 14.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.88 and the average family size was 3.19.
In the city, the age of the population was spread out, with 28.0% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 31.8% from 25 to 44, 25.8% from 45 to 64, and 8.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 107.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was estimated at $53,357[34] and the median income for a family was $73,576. Males had a median income of $42,301 versus $29,727 for females. Theper capita income for the town was $26,928. About 1.1% of families and 1.9% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 4.5% of those under age 18 and 0.7% of those age 65 or over.
Hartford has a mayor-council form of government. Dennis Regean is the mayor of Hartford. The Common Council is made up of nine aldermen, three elected from each of three aldermanic districts.
Hartford was an earlycar manufacturing center, home to theKissel Motor Car Company before 1926.[35] The city was the home of aChrysler Marine engine plant, aLibby's beet processing plant, and now many smaller industries, including the headquarters and a manufacturing site forBroan-NuTone.
In 1883 Ludwig "Louis" Kissel moved to Hartford and by 1890 he formed a partnership with his sons, Adolph P., Otto P., William L. and George A. that included many businesses beginning with the L. Kissel & Sons Hardware store. Other enterprises ultimately included the Hartford Plow Works (1892) manufacturing and distribution of farm machinery,[36] In addition to distributing engines through Kissel Manufacturing Company for other manufacturers, the Kissels developed their own gasoline engines, both two and four stroke, that even included a boat motor forSears and Roebuck. Other businesses included the Hartford Electric Company, a stone quarry, and a sand pit.
In 1906, Louis, his four sons, and US District Attorney H. K. Butterfield incorporated theKissel Motor Car Company. The new auto company started full-scale production in 1907 and continued until 1930. In 1906 Otto, along with John Liver, H. K. Butterfield, and 18 other members formed the First National Bank of Hartford, with capital of $50,000. John was elected president, H. K. Butterfield was elected vice-president and Otto Kissel was elected second vice president. Henry H. Esser was appointed cashier. Liver died in 1925 and Otto was appointed president.[37] In 1923 the Hartford Chamber of Commerce was organized with Otto Kissel, Henry Esser and John Liver as charter members. In 1936 Kissel Industries was formed, the old factory regained, and the company manufactured the Kissel outboard motor, sold as theWaterwitch from 1936 to 1944 exclusively bySears and Roebuck.[38]
The School District of Hartford providespublic education to elementary students in Hartford. Lincoln and Rossman Elementary Schools each serve roughly half of the city's kindergarten through fifth grade student population. Both schools are feeders to Central Middle School, which serves all Hartford students in grades 6 through 8.
Secondary education is provided by Hartford Union High School (HUHS), which is independent of the School District of Hartford.[39] It has an enrollment of about 1500 students. The high school serves the city of Hartford, theTown of Hartford, and most of the surrounding communities includingRichfield,Erin, Friess Lake, andNeosho.
Several parochial schools are in the community, including St. Kilian Roman Catholic School and Peace Lutheran.[40]
The city's library is the Jack Russell Memorial Library.
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)
Municipalities and communities ofDodge County, Wisconsin,United States | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cities |  | |
| Villages | ||
| Towns | ||
| CDPs | ||
| Other communities |
| |
| Ghost towns | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
Municipalities and communities ofWashington County, Wisconsin,United States | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cities |  | |
| Villages | ||
| Towns | ||
| CDP | ||
| Other communities | ||
| Former communities | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
