Hartford Seminary's origins date back to 1833 when the Pastoral Union of Connecticut was formed to train Congregational ministers.

[2] The Bible Normal College affiliated with the seminary in 1902 and changed its name to Hartford School of Religious Pedagogy.

When the seminary moved to Hartford in 1865, it was at first located in the area now occupied by buildings of the Wadsworth Atheneum.

In the 1910s, it planned a dedicated new campus on Hartford's west side, south of Elizabeth Street.

Surviving elements of this construction phase were used by the seminary until 1981, and currently constitute the campus of the University of Connecticut School of Law.