The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., commonly known as The Hartford, was founded in 1810 in Hartford, Connecticut by a group of local merchants as the Hartford Fire Insurance Company. The company survived the fire that destroyed New York’s financial district in 1835, the Chicago Fire in 1871, and the San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1906.
In 1913 the company expanded to include accident, automobile-liability, personal-damage, business-interruption, and more as the newly named, The Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company.
In 1959 the company acquired the Columbian National Life Insurance Company, therefore expanding into life insurance.
The company was bought by ITT Corporation in 1970 for $1.4 billion, which was the largest corporate takeover in history at that time. The new company was named the ITT-Hartford Group.
In 1995 ITT decided to streamline and divest itself of some of its subsidiaries, and Hartford became independent once again, trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Today The Hartford is a member of the S&P 500 as well as the Fortune 500. The company has over 22,000 employees and had $26.412 in revenue in 2012.
