Hartford City offers room for growth in a convenient location
Behind Hartford City’s small-town guise is an area ripe with opportunity. This eastern Indiana community can provide homebuyers with a relative value, and is bubbling with new businesses. Still, residents aren’t far from the bigger city of Marion and from Indianapolis, the state’s capital. “I think when someone visits Hartford City, they would expect to find a very small town, but it’s not,” says local Realtor Cathy Hunnicutt of Re/Max Realty One, who’s one of the top-selling agents in the state with over 100 sales a year. “I think it’s a nice-sized city that has a hometown feel to it. And it’s very easily accessible.”
Buyers can get their foot in the door with a project
In Hartford City and other communities in this region, there’s an active market of buyers acquiring properties under $100,000 and renovating them. Homes here that need work can go for as low as $8,000 and up to $70,000. However, that’s just a segment of the inventory in an area full of Craftsman- and ranch-style houses built across the early to mid-20th century. “You can find a house, no matter what category you’re looking, or what price range you’re looking,” Hunnicutt says. Move-in ready options in Hartford City fetch $80,000 to $400,000 based on factors including age and lot size. Many of the lots around the center of town are one-tenths to three-tenths of an acre, but some properties on the outskirts stretch a half-acre or more.
Hartford City is home to an increasingly diverse mix of businesses
This area’s downtown revolves around Washington and Main streets at the heart of Hartford City. Downtown businesses include Common Grounds, a coffee shop with popular biscuits and gravy. Thrifty Sounds next door is known for its wide selection of records, CDs and other collectibles. Open since 2020, the store is among the multiple businesses that have popped up here over the last several years. Others include Rivera's Mexican Taqueria, Hartford Hardware Billiards and Auburn Sun Studio, which sells clothing and home goods. “It is amazing, the growth of the small towns,” Hunnicutt says of the region.
Hartford City balances the growth with history. The striking, 19th-century Romanesque Revival-style Blackford County Courthouse is still a centerpiece of the area and underwent recent renovations. The Hartford City Public Library, built in 1903 in the Neo-Classical Revival style, is also in the downtown area. Locals can head just north of downtown for errands like grocery shopping, at Needler's Fresh Market and Save A Lot, along Walnut Street.
Annual festival features a range of attractions
The Hartford City Heritage Days Festival is a tradition each May. Held downtown, the event includes a parade, carnival rides, live music and a beer garden. Downtown’s Weiler Plaza features an outdoor stage and hosts various community events in the warmer months, like movie nights and concerts.
Local PTOs host a variety of programming
The area’s Blackford County Schools system gets a C-plus grade on Niche. Blackford Primary School includes prekindergarten through second grade, and its PTO sponsors events like a back-to-school bash and pictures with Santa. The PTO at Blackford Intermediate, which has grades 3 to 6, backs fall and holiday festivals and a father/daughter dance. Blackford Junior-Senior High School offers elective courses in advanced manufacturing and agriculture. All three schools have B-minus ratings.
Hartford City has green spaces for a mix of outdoor enthusiasts
The community is littered with green spaces, including the 50-acre Wilderness Park. This expanse features trails and Bark Park, a fenced spot for dogs to roam. Sigma Phi Gamma Park, which covers 12 acres, has a playground, athletic fields and a pair of basketball courts. Memorial Pool Park has a sand volleyball pit and a public pool open from around Memorial Day to mid-August.
Bigger communities are conveniently close
Hartford City residents can use Indiana state roads 3 and 18 to ride straight into Marion, which is 22 miles away and the biggest city in the immediate area. The Marion Health - MGH Campus hospital there has a 24-hour emergency room. Locals are also about a dozen miles from Interstate 69, which can take them to the Fort Wayne International Airport, roughly 50 miles north, or to Indianapolis, about 80 miles south.
Written By
Wayne Epps Jr.
