They're located all over America. They're the towns that mess up all your local Google searches. They're the other Hartfords.
If you've ever wondered about them - or if, like me, you've always simply tried to ignore them when they get in your way - here are some highlights. Just in case you ever find yourself competing in a Hartford trivia contest.
-Hartford, Kansas, was founded in 1858 by a group that included natives of Hartford, Connecticut.
-Hartford, Arkansas, elected that state's first socialist mayor in 1912.
-Hartford, Illinois, was where Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1803-4. It wasn't called Hartford at the time; the village was incorporated in 1920. Today, visitors can climb a 150-foot tower to look down on the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and the site of Lewis and Clark's Camp River Dubois.
-There is a Hartford County in Maryland, but there is no town of Hartford in it.
-There are two Hartfords in Ohio, one in Licking County and one in Trumbull County. Luckily for people in Ohio who want to actually get their mail, the Post Office of the former Hartford is called Croton.
-Hartford, Kentucky, was named for a deer crossing on the Rough River.
-Hartford, West Virginia, was named by two Connecticut men who went to the area to extract salt in the 1850s. It was incorporated as Hartford City. It is right next to New Haven, West Virginia.
-Hartford, Vermont, seems to have been created to befuddle residents of Connecticut. It is in Windsor County, and it's surrounded by the towns of Norwich, Hartland, Woodstock, Pomfret, and Sharon.