Residential Security Map and Area Descriptions, Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Connecticut

Beginning in 1935, the federal Home Owners\u27 Loan Corporation worked with local mortgage lenders to evaluate the trend of desirability in residential areas in Hartford and over 200 other cities. The HOLC portrayed its appraisal report in a color-coded map with the highest grade (A) in green and the lowest grade (D) in red. This government agency considered not only housing conditions, but also the social status of the population, and downgraded neighborhoods with non-white, immigrant, and poor residents. In later decades, these actions became associated with the discriminatory practice of redlining. The University of Connecticut MAGIC center hosts an historical interactive map and links to all of the source materials, located at: http://magic.lib.uconn.edu/otl/doclink_holc.htm