This video is about the north block of State Street, between Market Street and Columbus Boulevard (the former Front Street), that today is the south edge of Constitution Plaza in Hartford, Connecticut. In the early 1800s this was part of the center of the city’s business and social life, where some of its most famous insurance companies were started and had their first offices. Other businesses flourished here for generations. Some were started by Jewish immigrants, who became notable Hartford merchants selling such goods as tobacco, hardware and clothing. Others businesses were started by Chinese immigrants, among whom were prominent importers and the proprietors of Hartford’s first Chinese restaurant. There were also tragedies, including sometimes deadly fires. Old buildings survived here into the late 1950s, when everything was demolished to make way for the redevelopment project of Constitution Plaza.