The history of New Hartford goes back 211 years, when a courageous pioneer, 37-year-old Jedediah Sanger, traveled from New Hampshire toward the settlement of Whitestown to establish a new home for his family. At that time Sanger was penniless and deeply in debt. All his property had been destroyed by fire, but his determination to build anew never waned. Convinced of Sanger's honesty and ability, his creditors put no obstacles in the way of his adventure.

In March 1788, he was proceeding through the forest south of the Mohawk River and came to the site of the Sauquoit Creek. Sanger realized the advantages of the Sauquoit's water power and the lay of the land, and decided on the site for his new home. He bought much land, and one of his first purchases, from George Washington and George Clinton, was 1000 acres for $.50 an acre. After clearing the land, he built a log cabin and brought his family here in 1789. He then built a sawmill and later a grist mill in 1790, which marked the beginning of the settlement of the village of New Hartford. This name was said to have been given to the town by the Kellogg family that arrived from New Hartford, CT in 1772, becoming the very first settlers in this area.

The population and wealth of the village grew rapidly. When what is now the Seneca Turnpike was constructed in 1800, the business of the village soon outstripped that of other settlements in the area. Sanger saw the great advantage it would be to be on the direct route of the turnpike, with westbound stages and mail passing through the village, and purchased much of the turnpike company stock and influenced the location of the route.

New Hartford did more business than Utica before the building of the Erie Canal. After the canal opened and the railroad was constructed, the carrying business for the west was shifted to Utica, which grew to become a city, while the new village on the turnpike grew more slowly. New Hartford, however, had the water power of the Sauquoit Creek, which Utica lacked, and this advantage kept the village active. A factory was built for making ingrain carpets, and the first ingrain loom was located there. The first cut nails manufactured in the state were made in New Hartford by Jonathan Richardson, who purchased wine and liquor casks and then cut the hoops to make into nails. Jonathan Edwards, Jr., son of the famous American theologian and writer, founded the Presbyterian Church in 1791 as the First Religious Society of Whitestown. It first met in Sanger's barn, but soon built its own building in the center of the village.

New Hartford has changed in many ways over the years in size and organization. Throughout its early history it remained a village with no governmental organization and only one of many communities within the Town of Whitestown. On April 12, 1827, New Hartford became a village separate from Whitestown. It was 42 years later before the village organized a governmental system.