What Happened to Harrisburg Pennsylvania?

The story of the fall of Harrisburg Pennsylvania…

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kev72

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Sam

[Sandsculptor]

Only about 45, 000 people live inside the City Limits these days. But most of the
550, 000 metro population of this city live in the suburbs. I was born
in the City of Harrisburg, graduated from John Harris HS in 1966 and
after I got home from the Vietnam War, I worked in this city for the
next 40 years. I'm now retired and living "in the suburbs" just like
most of the people in this area of PA. One of the blessings of
Harrisburg is that housing is relatively affordable, and one can live
and work in a nice place, and you'd still be within a 200 mile drive you
can be at the following bigger cities: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh,
Baltimore and Washington DC, New York City, Atlantic City, and the
Niagara Falls (just a stretch over 200 miles of Niagara)...

[jpguitar]

Wow, a corrupt politician that got away scot-free, what a shock.

[seth]

I just moved to Downtown Harrisburg from Texas. I love living here. I am so grateful that I found this place and I hope to never leave it. My bar for cities is very low because I lived in Lubbock Tx my whole life, but I love the perfect mixture that is Harrisburg. I love that my place is right on the river and I can live an almost carless existence, which I have always wanted to do. The food downtown is amazing and as someone who was raised off of fast food, I have eaten better here in the past few months than I ever have growing up. I love how beautiful this place is. even in the winter there are still beautiful trees and the snow covered hills are something I also never thought id get to experience growing up in Tx. I do wish the river was cleaner and you could paddleboard or something.
I have a lot to learn about this city but I am happy I am here during its upturn.

[f.michaelbremer-cruz]

I grew up in Harrisburg and lived there until about 20 years ago. Writing as a former amateur local historian, it seems to me that you summed rather well the history of "The Burg". I particularly appreciated the vintage images you selected. They're all are old favorites, each of which made me smile. Well done and thanks for sharing this, as the fuller history of Harrisburg is rich with some truly amazing stories, IMHO.

To add some perspective about why Stephen Reed was mayor for so many years, the story starts with how truly dire Harrisburg's straits were when he first ran for office. It's a bit long, but quite a rich tale IMHO.

By 1979, the once bustling Downtown was a ghost town by 6 PM weeknights. On weekends, nobody went into the City unless they had to; or lived there. It was in pretty bad shape and very broke.

Mayor Swenson was in charge then. I recall him being kindly and well-liked personally, but not Professionally. Unfortunately, he struggled to deal with how much our city suffered during his tenure. It was a much nicer place with more resources when he'd first taken office. Reed was young and resonated with the voters in his first of many elections, for a litany of reasons.

The city was bankrupt and still recovering from the floods of both Hurricanes Agnes (1972) and Heloise (1975) at the time. The first flooded everything west of Allison Hill, and the second did likewise, severely damaging the most highly valued real estate in the City.

This was the biggest reason for the suburban migration of those years. The suburbs were all relatively new construction, sited on much higher ground. If memory serves, FEMA paid homeowners who stayed around after Agnes to relocate after Heloise. This further expedited the departure of almost all upper and middle class homeowners in those areas by 1978.

Reed pledged to bring Harrisburg back from the brink and within a few years, Center City began revitalizing. The difference was amazing, as it was the first time people were partying there for at least 20 years.

The LGBT community began restoring many run down homes of the Mid-town district from the mid 1970's-90's, slowly bringing them back to life for the first time in decades. The area was close to the 4 (four) Gay Bars that were clustered nearby, one of which (La Rose Rouge, now defunct) had existed since the 1960's. I'll always remember my time in those places with great fondness.

Then Shipoke (or what was left of it) went from being a low-income/working class neighborhood, to the well-heeled enclave it became by the turn of this century.

Reed's leadership made these things possible--all of which were miraculous to me and others at the time.

By 1990, the city had never been so vibrant and alive in my memory. It felt like The ' Burg was coming out of it's darkest years at the time. It was so nice to see it coming back in spite of all we'd faced.

During the early years of his tenure, Reed did a good job as Mayor. He even used to make a regular point of showing up at fire calls, to see how he could help those affected. By the Civil War Museum era, he was quite a different Mayor. Aloof and seemingly a bit too smug about his position as "Mayor for life". It all went to his head long before his final term in office, or so it seems to me.

I think you may have identified the incorrect museum when mentioning his indictment. I recall the opening of the Civil War Museum being rather uncontroversial at the time. Roughly 20 years ago or so, he had intended to setup a "Wild West Museum" for reasons that never made much sense. It never opened, but a lot of city dollars were used to buy artifacts for it, some of which I seem to recall were reported to have been later found in his possession.

Anyway, just a few thoughts from a former local. Ones that hopefully helps add a bit of context to the history of Harrisburg, the city beautiful, historic and romantic (to borrow the title from an old book I have around here somewhere).

Thanks for sharing this. Your channel is new to me and I look forward to seeing your other content. :)

[matthewbittenbender]

It's beautiful city with the Susquehanna running right through it. Lots of great buildings and history. But for all their construction projects, traffic is still a major issue at rush hour.

[nicholasgiampetro]

It's strange watching a video on the place I live in. Well I live near Hershey but it's all part of the harrisburg area and it's pretty amazing how little I really know about harrisburgs past.

[mtshaul]

I grew up in the west shore suburbs of Harrisburg. Reed is definitely a compromised figure in Harrisburg's history. I certainly enjoyed going to the Civil War Museum, the Whitaker Center, and Senators Ballpark...all of which were positive additions to Harrisburg. Reed's issue was he wanted to make a cowboy museum in Harrisburg which most people thought was off the deep end. He acquired all these artifacts using city funds which did not help the city's debt issues. Overall though while the city itself has iffy sections, most of the surrounding suburbs are wonderful places to live. I wouldn't trade my childhood location for anything.

[NorEEzta]

I just moved nearby and work out of Harrisburg, escaping Northern Virginia.

First thing that stands out. There are a lot of jobs here and are paying really well. It's an industrious area. A lot of trucking and distribution centers. Blue collar jobs.

Gas is high.

You're not far from the view of a mountain with the fog on it.

The city and the surrounding towns infrastructure appear old.

The traffic is not half as bad as the Baltimore and DC beltways.

You could have a relatively quiet and peaceful existence while making a decent living here. You'll have to mind all the trucks though.

[Dalt]

I’m from the Atlantic City area, but Harrisburg has some really cool architecture. You can really see the old wealth through the craft of the buildings. The rowhomes downtown are beautiful. It looks like a mini Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. Also you can find a lot of old mansions that are now refurbished into apartments or offices .

[brianfreeman]

Born and raised in Harrisburg and worked on air on WHP TV and radio during TMI. Nice overview. One point on your script..TMI is 10 miles from the southern tip of Harrisburg not three miles. That made a huge difference on who would be evacuated from around TMI if that had happened.

[anilabhatti]

Although we moved to Philadelphia from Harrisburg to get a feel for a bigger city, Harrisburg has a great job market, affordable housing, low traffic, nice river, some nice old architecture, great healthcare, and decent expanding restaurants.

[harpgal]

Just left this area, no remorse. Corrupt political machinations are very much responsible. Physically, it is a beautiful area with the mountains and the Susquehanna River. It should be more prosperous. City Island is really nice and if it had been managed properly, could be a destination. A poor tax structure, incompetent government and failing schools drove many families out of the city opening it up to drugs and high crime. There is very little reason to venture downtown now unless you are part of the weekend bar crowd. Parking rates are ridiculous and there's very little shopping available. It's really too bad; so much potential but such poor management.

[centredoorplugsthornton]

Long ago Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer story about Harrisburg began with "Even the statues at the state Capitol look like they want to get out of town."

[EllieM_Travels]

We live south of Harrisburg across the river and I absolutely love it here! There are so many beautiful places to see and things to do, and the restaurants are all really good! It’s a hub, in the center of Hershey, Gettysburg, between Pittsburgh and Philly. You can get to Maryland or the beach easily. Four seasons, beautiful landscape, great people!

[edvaira]

Wow, there’s actually a major state capital MORE BORING than Albany!! Who knew?!

[principalmcvicker]

Interesting city, probably never would have heard too much about it if not for this video, you always pick great topics. Keep it up

[williammarriott]

Why stop with Reed, the next mayor was even worse...as in criminally worse.

[rycriswell]

I was born in Harrisburg PA. Lived in Pittsburgh Mechanicsburg Carlisle Shippensburg and Chambersburg PA. I like South Central PA.

[knucklehoagies]

Harrisburg is a city with a ton of potential. You got the river, beautiful scenery, the mountains nearby. But it's democratic leadership pretty much ran the city into the ground. It's become just a very sad complacent city with no real drive to become better.

[kausalkraken]

I moved to PA for a job in Hershey about 1.5 years ago. I went to Harrisburg once, and never again. I see why many locals in Hershey hate harrisburg guts.