Editing Hartford, Wisconsin (section)

===Growth and industrialization===
[[File:Kissel car factory Hartford Wisconsin 1921.JPG|thumb|The Kissel Motor Car Company factory in 1921]]
[[File:1929 Kissel 8-95 White Eagle WI Auto Museum.jpg|thumb|A 1929 Kissel 8-95 White Eagle made in Hartford, Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Automotive Museum in Hartford owns a large collection of Kissels and other automobiles manufactured in the state.]]

Hartford incorporated as a city in 1883. While Hartford had a large German-American population in the 19th century and was home to several German cultural associations, including the Hartford [[Turners]], the Hartford [[Schützenverein]], and a chapter of the [[Sons of Hermann]],<ref name="early"/> the Germans in Hartford tended to be more assimilated than Germans in other Washington County communities. In 1912, one historian observed that in Washington County "there have always been places where the American [culture] predominated. Take the example of the two cities in the county. Hartford always was more of an American community than West Bend."{{sfn|Quickert|1912|pp=80}}

In the final decades of the 1800s and first years of the 1900s, Hartford's economy shifted from being a small market town serving the local farmers to being a larger industrial community. In 1906, the [[Kissel Motor Car Company]] opened and quickly became the community's largest employer, creating hundreds of jobs and bringing European immigrant laborers into the community. Hartford was also home to the International Stamping Company, which manufactured automobile parts; the Hartford Canning Company,<ref name="Encyclopedia"/> which processed local farmers' crops such as peas, which were a [[cash crop]] in the area;{{sfn|Quickert|1912|pp=136}} the knitting mills of the Paramount Knitting Company; a glove factory; three tanneries, and a brewery.{{sfn|Quickert|1912|pp=131}}

During [[World War II]], Hartford's factories contributed to the war effort. The Kissel car factory, which was sold to the West Bend Aluminum Company in 1944, was retooled to make [[Cartridge (firearms)|shell casings]], rocket containers, affordable kitchenware and canisters for gas masks. The Hartford Canning Company produced military rations.<ref name="Encyclopedia"/> In the summer of 1944, the U.S. military tried to fill labor shortages in the Hartford area by contracting German [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] to work on pea farms. Initially, the prisoners were transported from a requisitioned hotel on Lake Keesus in [[Waukesha County, Wisconsin|Waukesha County]]. In October 1944, the military requisitioned the Schwartz Ballroom on Jefferson Street (operating as the "Chandelier Ballroom" as of 2020)<ref>{{cite web|title=Chandelier Ballroom: History|url=https://www.chandelierballroom.com/history.html|publisher=Chandelier Ballroom|access-date=2020-01-12}}</ref> to serve as a [[List of POW camps in the United States|prisoner of war camp]] for 600 Germans. The prisoners were contracted to work on farms as well as in canneries, hemp mills, dairy facilities and tanneries. The camp closed in January 1946 and the prisoners were repatriated to Germany.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zD-kby0LiuEC&pg=PA123|title=Stalag Wisconsin: Inside WW II Prisoner-of-war Camps|last=Cowley|first=Betty|date=2002-01-01|publisher=Badger Books Inc.|isbn=9781878569837|pages=146–57|language=en}}</ref>

Hartford's population grew during the [[post–World War II economic expansion]]. The population more than doubled between 1950 and 1960, and the community has continued to grow in subsequent decades. While many of the early 20th century manufacturers, including the Kissel Motor Car Company, have closed, Hartford is home to several large manufacturers, including [[NuTone|Broan-NuTone]], which manufactures ventilation systems. In 1990, the city annexed land from the neighboring [[Rubicon, Wisconsin|Town of Rubicon]] in [[Dodge County, Wisconsin|Dodge County]] to expand its industrial zone.<ref>{{cite web|title=City of Hartford, County of Washington and Dodge: Annexation and Plat Map |url=ftp://doaftp1380.wi.gov/doadocs/MunicipalData/SOS/00013593.pdf | date=December 20, 1990 |publisher=Wisconsin Secretary of State|access-date=2021-01-03}}</ref>