Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania and the county seat for Dauphin County. A political, cultural, and commercial hub for central Pennsylvania, Harrisburg is also firmly cemented in the annals of American history. During the Civil War, the city served as a training ground and transportation center for the Union Army, and was previously a significant stop along the Underground Railroad. The city also played an important role in the early Industrial Revolution as one of the first industrial centers in the United States. Though Harrisburg experienced a decline in economic stability and population in the latter half of the twentieth century, intensive investment has helped to restore job and economic growth. Still, the city government itself has notoriously faced major financial challenges in the twenty-first century.

Landscape

Harrisburg is situated along the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania. The city is bordered by the Cumberland Valley, to the west, the Lebanon Valley, to the east, and Blue Mountain to the north, part of the eastern edge of the Appalachians. Because of the hilly terrain, the elevation in the city shifts from 100 to 358 feet above sea level.

The downtown area of Harrisburg is organized according to a regular grid, which is centered on the Market Square. This was the original agricultural market of the city. Harrisburg is divided into more than fifteen separate neighborhoods, including Lemoyne, Camp Hill, Steelton, and Colonial Park. The city has a total of twenty-eight urban park areas.

Harrisburg enjoys a temperate climate with four distinct seasons. The city is relatively insulated from climatic extremes and enjoys mild overall weather for most of the year. Summer temperatures can top 90 degrees Fahrenheit, though the July average is about 77.3 degrees Fahrenheit. In January, temperatures average 30.8 degrees. The city receives an average of 44.23 inches of rain each year and approximately 29.8 inches of snow each year.

People

In 2022 Harrisburg had an estimated population of 50,183 according to the US Census Bureau. An estimated 46.4 percent of Harrisburg's population was Black or African American. Non-Hispanic White people comprise roughly 25.3 percent of the population, with persons of Hispanic or Latino origin of any race the next largest ethnic group at 24.7 percent.

from 2018 to 2022, the median household income in Harrisburg was $46,654. During that period, an estimated 28.3 percent of the population lived below the poverty line. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pennsylvania's unemployment rate was estimated at 2.4 percent in December 2023.

Economy

In December 2023, the trade, transportation, and utilities sector employed about 85,200 people in the Harrisburg-Carlisle metropolitan area, while 70,200 people worked in education and health services, and 57,900 were government employees.

The education and health services sector is the fastest growing sector in Harrisburg-Carlisle, followed by other services. Outside of the government, major employers in the metro area include Hershey Foods, TE Connectivity (formerly Tyco Electronics), Pinnacle Health System, and Capital Blue Cross. Among the largest employers in the educational field are Harrisburg Area Community College. Harrisburg University of Science and Technology employs 200 faculty.

Harrisburg has a well-developed public transportation system. The city's buses are run by Capital Area Transit (CAT), which provide bus routes throughout the city and to many of the surrounding counties and suburban areas. The city is also served by Amtrak, which connects Harrisburg to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Harrisburg also has an international airport, Harrisburg International (HIA), which serves the entire central region of the state.

Landmarks

Harrisburg's most recognizable landmark is the Pennsylvania State Capitol building. The building is notable for its domed roof and intricately carved exterior, which borrows elements from the Italian Renaissance. The current capitol is the state's second, built between 1898 and 1906, after the previous capitol building burned in an 1897 fire. The east wing of the capitol building houses a visitor's center, where a variety of artifacts related to the history of the city and state are exhibited.

The Whitaker Center for Science & the Arts, located in downtown Harrisburg, is a unique entertainment complex offering musical and theatrical performances, in addition to functioning as both a science and art museum. The Whitaker Center houses an IMAX theater, a main display area for revolving science and art exhibits, and a permanent science center, which features a number of hands-on learning activities.

The National Civil War Museum, located in Harrisburg's Reservoir Park, is a unique museum offering a collection of artifacts and information related to the American Civil War. The museum was established in the mid 1990s and collected the bulk of its collection between 1994 and 1999.

The State Museum of Pennsylvania, which is part of the Harrisburg Capitol Complex, contains detailed exhibits relating the history of Pennsylvania, from the region's earliest known residents through the modern era. The museum has a number of exhibits and learning activities geared towards families, including a display of dinosaur fossils and preserved specimens of native wildlife.

Harrisburg also hosts the annual Pennsylvania Farm Show, the nation's largest free agricultural exposition, which includes twenty-five acres of farm equipment demonstrations and sales, animal husbandry exhibits, agricultural technology demonstrations, and a variety of agrarian activities. Other unique events include the Kipona Festival, which celebrates elements of Native American heritage.

History

Americans Indians settled in the Harrisburg region hundreds of years before the arrival of European explorers. John Harris, originally of Yorkshire, England, is generally regarded as the founder of the city and one of the most prominent explorers in Pennsylvania. Harris settled along the river around 1718, where he set up a ferryboat business and farm.

While the settlement was initially called Louisburg, in honor of King Louis XV of France, John Harris's son, John Jr., lobbied to have the name of the town changed to honor his father, whose early farm and ferryboat business was the anchor for the town. Harrisburg became the state capital in 1810, the same year it was designated as a city by the state legislature.

In order to stimulate growth, the state legislature authorized the construction of the Pennsylvania Canal in 1824. Between 1830 and 1860, the canal and the Pennsylvania Railroad were in competition. The canal section between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh was the first to be completed and functioned from 1834 to 1857, when it was abandoned in favor of the railroad system. The railroad system eventually connected Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC. Because of its proximity to the national capital, Harrisburg was chosen in 1839 as the host city for the Whig Party.

Harrisburg is famous for its role in the Underground Railroad, which was due to its proximity to the Susquehanna River. Escaped and freed slaves were often kept in houses in Harrisburg, where volunteer citizens would provide them with food and clothing before transporting them along the Susquehanna on their way north to Canada.

Harrisburg was an important city during the Civil War, and acted as a training bed and transportation hub for the Union army. Realizing the city's importance, the Confederate army attempted to invade Harrisburg on different occasions, Union soldiers were eventually able to repel the second Confederate invasion—the first was stalled due to the Confederate defeat at Antietam—in battles throughout Dauphin County.

Following the Civil War, Harrisburg became an important shipping port for steel produced in Pennsylvania and shipped around the country. The Pennsylvania Railroad was the primary mode for shipping steel out of the state, though shipments were also taking along the river to ports elsewhere in Pennsylvania.

Harrisburg sustained its population through the mid-twentieth century, thanks to its importance as a transportation hub. The Pennsylvania Turnpike, which opened in 1940, made Harrisburg an important stop in the national transportation system. Despite its importance in the first half of the twentieth century, the city's economy declined in the 1950s and 1960s. The 1980s and 1990s marked a turning point for the city and the beginning of a modern renaissance, much of it initially attributed to Mayor Stephen Reed, who was elected in 1981.

Reed served from 1981 throughout the 1990s and into the twenty-first century, and was responsible for a number of citywide restoration and economic stimulation projects. In 2006, World Mayor, a group created in 2004 to evaluate the mayoral office on an international basis, named Reed the third best mayor in the world, citing a number of civic improvements over the mayor's twenty-four years in office. Reed lost a 2009 reelection bid, however, amidst increasing criticism of his handling of the city's finances. He later faced numerous charges of corruption, some stemming from his use of public funds to collect American Indian and Western artifacts that he allegedly kept for himself. Eventually Harrisburg became the first municipality to be charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission for making misleading statements about its finances . Meanwhile, Harrisburg continued to struggle financially, and in 2011 the city council filed for bankruptcy. Legal challenges complicated and eventually overturned the bankruptcy process, and the state placed the city into receivership, with a fiscal recovery plan instituted in 2013.

Since then, the city has recovered. In 2023, Harrisburg was ranked the best places to live in Pennsylvania and thirty-eighth in the nation, according to the annual US News & World Report survey of 125 US cities.

Bibliography

"Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA." Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor, 21 Feb. 2024, www.bls.gov/eag/eag.pa‗harrisburg‗msa.htm. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.

McDaniel, Melissa. "Harrisburg, Pennsylvania." U.S. News & World Report: Real Estate—Best Places, U.S. News & World Report, 2019, realestate.usnews.com/places/pennsylvania/harrisburg. Accessed 2 May. 2019.

"Harrisburg City, Pennsylvania." United States Census Bureau, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/harrisburgcitypennsylvania/. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.

Pennsylvania State Data Center. Pennsylvania State U, 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

"QuickFacts: Harrisburg City, Pennsylvania." US Census Bureau, US Dept. of Commerce, 1 July 2016, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/harrisburgcitypennsylvania/EDU685216. Accessed 26 Jan. 2018.

Ries, Linda A. Harrisburg. Charleston: Arcadia, 2006. Print.

Solomon, Brian. North American Railroads: The Illustrated Encyclopedia. Minneapolis: Voyageur, 2014. Print.

Switala, William J. Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania. 2nd ed. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole, 2008. Print

Treese, Lorett. Railroads of Pennsylvania. 2nd ed. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole, 2012. Print