New Britain, Connecticut: The Hardware City

New Britain began in 1754 as a new parish called 'New Briton' in the Great Swamp area, and grew into an industrial village by the early nineteenth century. Manufacturing dominance earned it the nickname 'Hardware City': the American Hardware Corporation and Stanley Works made it Connecticut's largest employer by 1913, with 12,000 workers, and Stanley Black & Decker still keeps its headquarters here following the 2010 Stanley Works-Black & Decker merger. Elihu Burritt, 'the Learned Blacksmith,' was born in New Britain on December 8, 1810; while working at the forge he taught himself nearly 50 languages, became the leading pacifist of his age, and founded the League of Universal Brotherhood in 1846. The city's motto, 'Industry Fills the Hive and Enjoys the Honey,' reflects that manufacturing heritage, and New Britain also developed one of the nation's most notable Polish immigrant communities — today's Little Poland district along Broad Street.

New Britain has no passenger rail station of its own. Drivers use the city's in-town interstate connections between New York and Boston, while transit riders arrive via CTfastrak, Connecticut's first bus rapid transit system, on a dedicated 9.1-mile busway from downtown Hartford with peak service every 7-8 minutes. Rail travelers can also reach Berlin station, one town east, for Amtrak Northeast Regional, Amtrak Valley Flyer, and CTrail Hartford Line trains, then connect into New Britain on CTtransit bus routes 511, 512, or 513.

The New Britain Museum of American Art calls itself the first museum in the country dedicated to acquiring American art, with more than 9,000 works. Walnut Hill Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, is the flagship of the city's roughly 1,200 acres of parkland. The New Britain Bees play at New Britain Stadium, and the all-volunteer Hole in the Wall Theater has staged community productions for more than 50 years. For food, Capitol Lunch has served its natural-casing hot dogs since 1929, East Side Restaurant has poured German beer since 1934, and Alvarium Beer Co. brews and roasts coffee in a taproom aimed at revitalizing the city's industrial core.