In Mark Twain's time it was considered one of the most beautiful cities in the U.S. I84/95 ended that. Democrapping turned it into an even bigger sewer.
Hartford suffered the fate of so many East and Midwest cities.
It was a boom town a hundred years ago with factories everywhere producing a wide variety of products.
Then the factories closed and the folks who stuck around....well you know the rest of the story.
That said—there are some wonderful burbs and especially exurbs in a ring around the city.