Economy of Hartford

manufacturing innovations. Among these was Hartford's pioneer bicycle (and later) automobile maker Pope. As in nearly all former Northern manufacturing cities, many factories have been closed, relocated, or reduced operations.

Despite the city's lengthy history with the insurance industry, various insurers have recently left Hartford and moved their operations to other locations, including to some of Hartford's suburbs. Citing the tax structure in the city and parking shortages, MetLife recently vacated several floors in CityPlace, Connecticut's largest office building, and joined CIGNA in a large suburban campus in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Lincoln Financial has recently cut its Hartford workforce, while Travelers elected to construct a sprawling training complex in Windsor, Connecticut, just north of the city. Originating from the acquisition of the travel protection division of Travelers, Travel Insured International operates out of East Hartford, Connecticut. In addition, the Fortune 100 MassMutual Company recently relocated its Hartford operations 16 miles north to Enfield, Connecticut. The Hartford's life insurance division is located primarily in nearby Simsbury, Connecticut.

At the same time, many companies have moved to or expanded in the central business district and surrounding neighborhoods. Aetna announced mid-decade that by 2010 it would move nearly 3,500 employees from its Middletown, Connecticut offices to its corporate headquarters in the Asylum Hill section of the city. Travelers recently expanded its operations at several downtown locations. In 2008, Sovereign Bank consolidated two bank branches as well as its regional headquarters in a nineteenth-century palazzo on Asylum Street. In 2009, Northeast Utilities, a Fortune 500 company and New England's largest energy utility, announced it would establish its corporate headquarters downtown. In the same year, work began at the southeastern corner of