Hearts (the common abbreviation) were founded in 1875 and named after the novel "The Heart of Midlothian" by Sir Walter Scott.
Hearts had considerable success in the early years of the Scottish League but then went from 1906 to 1954 without winning a major trophy. They then had their most succesful years winning
League - 1958, 1960 Runners Up - 1957, 1959 Cup - 1956 League Cup - 1959, 1960
The 1958 League Title was won with a record 62 points, with 132 goals scored in 34 matches.
From the mid 1960s Hearts went into decline and with the advent of the 10-team Premier Division in 1975 spent several seasons outside the top flight. The arrival of chairman Wallace Mercer led to a revival in the club's fortunes, narrowly failing to win the league in 1986 and being runners up again in 1988. Since then the changing economics of football have made it almost impossible for Hearts, like other Scottish clubs, to compete with the big two, Glasgow Celtic and Glasgow Rangers. The only recent trophy win was the Scottish Cup in 1997.