Located in the north east-central portion of the state, the small farming community experienced a 15-year "boom" beginning in the late 1880s caused by the discovery of natural gas.

[2] Individual buildings in Hartford City also recognized by the National Register of Historic Places include the Blackford County Courthouse and the First Presbyterian Church.

[4][5] In the early 19th century, a settlement of the Munsee clan of the Delaware Indians was located about 19 miles south of the future Hartford City along the White River.

Around 1830, members of the Potawatomi tribe began visiting the area south of the Wabash River a bit too often, and were eventually fought by Miami warriors in what is now Upland, Indiana – which is about 8 miles from Hartford City.

This fight, with knives and clubs as the main weapons, had no fatalities, and the result was the Potawatomi tribesmen returning to their lands north of the Wabash River.

He returned to the area in 1832 with his wife Mary and five of their children (plus son Peter's family), settling in what would become Blackford County's Licking Township.

Other early settlers in the future Licking Township included Andrew Boggs, John Grimes, George and Joseph Atkinson, Jacob Slater, and Robert Stewart.

As the county became organized and more settlers began arriving, the Godfroy Reservation tribe became more annoyed with the "white man", and moved west around 1839.

Although the Montpelier community had existed longer, Licking Township (which contained the future Hartford City) had a slightly higher population.

Folklore later taught in local elementary schools suggested that Hartford was originally a place to ford (or cross) Lick Creek.

Blackford County became organized in June 1839, when Indiana Governor David Wallace appointed Nicolas Friend acting sheriff.

First, the commissioners worked on a petition for a road that would run along the nearby Lick Creek toward the city of Portland in adjacent Jay County.

The city's prosperity enabled it to have a good quality infrastructure: a water works, two railroads plus the interurban system, and brick roads.

Some of the local workforce became employed in nearby cities such as Muncie, Marion, and Anderson, where jobs related to the new automobile industry were available.

[56] By the 1930s, major town business establishments included Hartford Ice Company, Overhead Door, multiple glass factories, and paper mills.

He had natural mechanical skills, and rose to an executive engineering position at the city's Fort Wayne Corrugated paper mill.

[63] Given the Ku Klux Klan activities in Hartford City during the 1920s (all other blacks left town during that time), perhaps Stevens felt his masquerade was necessary.

The community was fortunate to have Overhead Door and Fort Wayne Corrugated as major employers in addition to the auto parts manufacturers in nearby towns.

The Overhead Door manufacturing plant in Hartford City continued production, but it eventually cut back its operations in 1985.

The recent economic difficulties for the automobile industry have also been unfortunate for the economy of Hartford City, but the town continues to work to attract new businesses.

The Blackford County Gazette began in 1901, and it had a column written in French to attract the French-speaking Belgian glass workers living mostly in the south side of the city.

E. E. Cox, considered one of the most influential figures in journalism in Blackford County, ran the Hartford City News for about 40 years before he died in 1931.

The future town was eventually "platted" mostly north of Lick Creek using the Public Land Survey System typical of Northwest Ordinance communities.

[76] Additional small buildings were utilized in Hartford City as demands for classroom space increased following the Civil War.

Hartford City has had its share of individual athletes that excelled in their high school sport and continued to play at the collegiate level.

Hartford City's greatest success in high school basketball was the 1919-1920 season, which took place before the state tournament had "Regionals" and "Semifinals".

[93] As a high school basketball player elsewhere in Indiana, Mr. Stonebraker once scored 74 points in a regular season game, and led two state championship teams.

[94] The Stonebraker-coached Hartford City 1919-1920 team finished the season with a 26-win and 5-loss record, reaching the final four in the Indiana state basketball tournament before being eliminated in a 21 to 16 loss.

The game had been tied at 64 with 95 seconds to play, and a basket by the Airedales’ Tom Smith plus a free throw by Don McDermott accounted for the margin of victory.

The football field was located adjacent to the city's Sigma Phi Gamma Park, which was within walking distance of the high school.