Historic Harrisburg Association

09/25/2025

From a 1985 photograph in a Historic American Engineering Record survey, a bustling luncheonette is shown inside the Pennsylvania Railroad Station in Harrisburg. The view from the northwest corner captures patrons at lunch. When the station was constructed, its train sheds were among the largest of the period, and today they remain among the few such sheds still in existence. Had you ever visited this luncheonette?

09/15/2025

Over a century ago at N. Third & Cumberland Streets, you could purchase a piano, have a bicycle repaired, select fine china, read the headlines of the newspapers from the printers, or ascend to the third floor of the corner building (then known as Sible & Clark’s Hall) to attend a civic meeting or local function. Though cropped out of view here, on the far-right edge of the original photograph, you can still faintly distinguish the façade of the Central Guarantee Trust & Safe Deposit Company/Merchants National Bank, which now serves as the headquarters of Historic Harrisburg.

09/13/2025

Did you know? In June 1928, the New York Yankees visited Harrisburg’s former Island Park for a scrimmage against the Harrisburg Senators. Pictured here are future Hall of Famers Leo Durocher, Babe Ruth, and Lou Gehrig, flanking Harrisburg sportswriters John Tattersall and Dick McCrone. Both the “Bambino” and the “Iron Horse” hit home runs that were lost over the fence into the City Island woods. At one point, police had to hold back nearly 1,000 youngsters eager to rush the players. The contest ended in a 6–6 tie.

09/11/2025

Harrisburg Heritage Happenings E-Newsletter -

Join the Historic Harrisburg Association and Pennsylvania Heritage Foundation on a Bucks County Adventure! For full details and to purchase tickets, visit website: https://www.paheritage.org/.../bus-trip/doylestown.html 

08/21/2025

This c. 1950s photograph shows the Lawrie & Lappley designed Market Street Trust Company bank building just off 10th Street, built in 1921 with a neoclassical style that was popular at the time. Within about a decade after this photo was taken, the downtown-based Dauphin Deposit Trust Company would acquire this bank in a merger.

08/15/2025

With the recent renewed online interest in the abandoned building at 2nd and Paxton Street, and the excellent informational PennLive.com article this week by DaniRae Renno, we thought it was an ideal opportunity to share some old photographs of the building. While it may not be as historically “significant” as many of the properties our Preservation Committee regularly researches and investigates, it is still a gateway building on the southern automotive entry sequence to the city, and we maintain a vested interest in seeing the rightful owner, whoever it may be, take charge and preserve it in a manner worthy of our capital city. The first photo is from Fall of 1963 where the area is undergoing construction, and the second is from Fall 1964, as the City celebrates the opening of the Harrisburg Tourist Information Center.

08/07/2025

Brothers Dr. Stewart G. Leidich and Dr. Percy G. Leidich operated this drug store at the corner of Front and Vine streets in Harrisburg, seen up top as people pick up debris after the Great 1936 Flood waters receded. The plate glass from the window was also shattered from the flood. The high water mark came up to 29.23 feet in Harrisburg on March 19th, leading it to be nicknamed the "St Patrick's Day Flood." Back in 1829, Robert Harris (congressman and grandson of John Harris) conveyed the land here at 331-3 South Front St to Jacob Pancake and S. Hays. This was the site of the Harris Ferry House which was still operating in the 1830s. A jail was then built on the site and finally the twin townhouses of 331-3 in the Second Empire style were built in 1874 by Alfred Pancake and his uncle George Trullinger.

07/24/2025

The Uptown Theater opened in 1949 at N. 4th and Schuylkill streets as a state-of-the-art, 700-seat movie house built by theater veteran Mark Rubinsky. It was the city’s first theater with its own parking lot, a TV-equipped lounge, a soundproof "cry room" for parents, and a custom glare-reducing screen. Known for its modern design and comfort, the Uptown originally showed films about a month after their downtown premieres, later specializing in foreign and art films, and eventually booking first-run hits like My Fair Lady and Funny Girl. Changing lifestyles and the rise of television and suburban theaters diminished attendance. Rubinsky sold the building to Polyclinic Hospital in 1966, and after several lease renewals, the Uptown closed quietly in April 1972. The building was later demolished to make way for a hospital parking garage.

07/16/2025

Harrisburg Heritage Happenings E-Newsletter -

Harristown Enterprises on Tuesday announced that they are partnering with New Holland-based Garden Spot Communities and Select Capital Commercial Properties to construct senior independent living apartments at a former office building at 112 Market St.

07/10/2025

Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church at 19th & Market was designed by its rector in 1910, Rev. Ward Winter Reese (a former PRR civil engineer). It deviated from the common Gothic Style, instead evoking Elizabethan architecture and elements of Tudor Revival. The stone carving was done by vestry member Isaac Birkett Dickinson, formerly with the prominent firm of McKim, Mead & White. It wasn't until 1973 when the 21 stained-glass windows were installed.

07/04/2025

In this photograph from the early 1900s, a gentleman in a patriotic boat takes two ladies for a paddle in front of Independence Island. On the island, you can make out the bathhouse and picnic pavilion, which once accommodated hundreds of residents on hot summer days. At the time, rowboats like this or rope-drawn ferries were the only way to reach Independence Island, which remains a popular spot today for boating and watching fireworks. Where is your favorite place to watch the Independence Day fireworks?

06/26/2025

On this day 21 years ago was the final day and auction of Cow Parade, an international public art project. For participation in the project's sixth year, it justifiably settled upon the ever-quirky Harrisburg. Local artists decorated 137 fiberglass cows which were displayed both indoors and outdoors across the region from March 30 to June 26. "Raise your Paddle for Cattle" was the culmination of the event, where the bovines were auctioned for the benefit of local nonprofits and charities. Though several remain owned and displayed locally, many were relocated to their new owners, sparking a community effort through Reddit’s r/HarrisburgCowParade to track down their whereabouts. Pictured here is one of the most “Harrisburg-themed” cows: Mary Ann Byrne-Walker’s “Moo-er Reed,” which fittingly sat at City Hall. Did you have a favorite cow or one that stood out to you?