I walked Harrisburg as a tourist over the weekend

I parked in the commuter lot on City Island around 7 am (free on Saturday), continued walking west on that bridge to the Susquehanna River’s west bank, then south down the abandoned railroad bed (now barely a path) to below the I-83 bridge. This is the view looking back toward the city. That started the day off right.

Walking back east across the river on the abandoned railroad bridge that touches the downstream end of City Island (old Reading RR, I think) I enjoyed a Norfolk Southern freight very picturesquely crossing the adjacent active railroad bridge paralleling I-83.

Directly upstream from that bridge (the active one), extending out into the river from the west bank, also visible on satellite photos, is part of “Vanderbilt’s Folly,” eight piers (and a ninth I noticed in the west bank woods) of a never-completed bridge for the never realized “Southern Pennsylvania Division” of the New York Central Railroad, the Central’s direct challenge to the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Main Line. Construction was halted by The Commodore himself in the late 1880’s, not just on this viaduct but the whole project, which fifty years later became the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Harrisburg west, including its numerous tunnels through the Alleghenies. Vanderbilt’s Folly is the history of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Continuing walking east into the city along the tracks of the abandoned but intact bridge brings you to the Harrisburg Transportation Center, formerly the Pennsyvania Railroad Station, a National Historic Landmark. There are more than a dozen trains between here and New York, via Philadelphia, each day on a fully electified line. West from Harrisburg there are only a couple, and not electric. Harrisburg is also one of three hubs of the Norfolk Southern RR, the two others being Atlanta and Chicago.

Continuing walking up State St., Harrisburg’s grand entrance from the east, to the eastern city line, the city’s highest point, I found the new (2002) National Civil War Museum. Spectacular views here, to the north the Blue Mountain with its plunging Susquehanna River gap, and to the south the plumes of steam rising from Three Mile Island. I did not tour the Museum.

Back down State St. to the Capitol building, I then walked north on the railroad tracks to the Blue Mountain, where the PRR main line crosses the Susquehanna on the famous Rockville Bridge, 1902 (click the 3rd photo down, on the left, for the best view), now used by Norfolk Southern and Amtrak. Exquisitely picturesque, especially with the trains approaching from the direction of the setting sun. I thank the engineers for tolerating my lingering near the bridge while their long freights passed in both directions.

Back down south along Front St. I passed the Governer’s Mansion, dramatically set along the wide (but shallow) Susquehanna. Continuing walking south along the river, I reached the city center around dusk, just as the bridges and Capitol building were lighting up.

Twenty-three miles in all, and a very enjoyable city to walk. According to Wikipedia, Harrisburg was rated the second-most “distressed” city in the US in 1981. I am not sure what ‘distressed’ included, but I assume a mix of economic and social ills. Three Mile Island was 1979, when well over 100.000 evacuated the region. But in 1981, Stephen Reed was elected mayor, and has won every mayoral race since. His current term ends 2010. He’s a doer, apparently, and it was his influence that turned the city into the showplace it is today.

Nice walk - I lived in Harrisburg from 2005 until a couple of weeks ago. Sadly, my stomping grounds usually included the UberBigBoxes of Union Deposit Road, the scenic Walmart, the friendly Paxtang Grill, Giant Grocery at Kline Village…

Oh well. Has The Spot finally closed? That would be sad - no trip downtown is complete without a Spot Dog.

I have a question for you or anyone familiar with the city. Will the western span of the Walnut St. pedestrian bridge that collapsed in the 1996 flood be replaced?

I would also like to correct two factual errors in the OP. I said the abandoned railroad bridge that touches the downstream tip of City Island was the Reading Railroad, but it was the Cumberland Valley Railroad. “Currently unused, it will serve as a central connection in the proposed CorridorOne regional commuter rail system.” Wikipedia

Also, it was not Commodore Vanderbilt who halted construction on the South Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge. According to Wikipedia, “work began on the South Penn and was abruptly halted by banker J.P. Morgan in 1885 when he called a truce in the railroad wars that threatened to undermine investor confidence in the Pennsylvania and New York Central railroads. Eight piers still rise from the water at the west side of the river near the current location of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Bridge” [the Reading Railroad].

This former Reading bridge is the active Norfolk & Southern bridge of today.

Why didn’t you let me know you were in town? I wouldn’t have walked, but at least given you a ride. :slight_smile:

This is the last week for The Spot, PaulParkhead.

To answer your question, Mark Ryle, about the western side of the Walnut Street bridge, every few years there seems to be talk circulated about rebuilding it, but since it’s the responsiblity of Lemoyne/Wormleysburg, nothing has come about it yet. There’s also talk every now and then about developing the property along the West Shore Riverfront for parks, walking paths, etc., but it’s finding the funds to so do that seems to be a hang up.

It’s also worth noting that CorridorOne is all but dead right now. The Cumberland County supervisors are doing there best to make sure it is.

Robin

Thanks very much, and very nice to make your acquaintance.

My goal in walking is to keep my weight down. The more miles I walk the better I like it. But had I known, I would have taken you up on your invitation.

The paths are certainly already there and just begging to be made into bike/hiking paths, but very overgrown at this point. I was checking myself often for ticks on the abandoned railroad line on the west side of the Susquehanna. I did not get any.

Harrisburg has such a naturally dramatic setting – the wide river with long, arched bridges, the mountains in the background. And it already has the Appalachian Trail, just north of the Blue Mountain on the third ridge, Peters Mountain.

Very nice to meet you, phall0106, and MsRobyn.

That’s because those West Shore people never go over the East Shore, donchaknow. :rolleyes:
Keep me in mind next time you’re in the area Mark Ryle.

I just think it’s hysterical that the only ways to get to Harrisburg from Carlisle are by Capital Area Transit or Greyhound, unless you have your own car. And good luck getting to Shippensburg or Chambersburg.

Robin

Is Mayor Stephen Reed universally liked, as his election record suggests to an outsider? Has he been a proponent of CorridorOne, the proposed regional rail system? If so, why isn’t it happening?

Here’s my take on it.

Steve Reed has been instrumental in the changes of Harrisburg. I’ve been here nearly 10 years, and I’ve seen changes (largely positive) throughout the city. From what I understand, 20 years ago, it wasn’t a nice place to live or visit. Downtown was fairly desserted at night, except by criminal minded individuals. City Island, which now hosts the Harrisburg Senators Baseball, and the local soccer team (can’t recall their name) and a variety of family day activities (batting cages, recreations train, horse carriage rides, etc.) was once a den of weeds, drugs and prostitutes. Steve Reed apparently stepped in at some point and City Island was on it’s way to become a popular attraction.

Restaurant Row in downtown Harrisburg was a line of largely abandonded buildings–it was nearly impossible to have businesses here which would produce taxable revenue. Granted it’s now a row of places to get drunk on a Saturday night, but it also offers places for the daytime working crowd (myself included).

There are many who credit Steve Reed with bringing to reality Harrisburg University, The National Civil War Museum

Here’s my take on it.

Steve Reed has been instrumental in the changes of Harrisburg. I’ve been here nearly 10 years, and I’ve seen changes (largely positive) throughout the city. From what I understand, 20 years ago, it wasn’t a nice place to live or visit. Downtown was fairly desserted at night, except by criminal minded individuals. City Island, which now hosts the Harrisburg Senators Baseball, and the local soccer team (can’t recall their name) and a variety of family day activities (batting cages, recreations train, horse carriage rides, etc.) was once a den of weeds, drugs and prostitutes. Steve Reed apparently stepped in at some point and City Island was on it’s way to become a popular attraction.

Restaurant Row in downtown Harrisburg was a line of largely abandonded buildings–it was nearly impossible to have businesses here which would produce taxable revenue. Granted it’s now a row of places to get drunk on a Saturday night, but it also offers places for the daytime working crowd (myself included).

There are many who credit Steve Reed with bringing to reality Harrisburg University, The National Civil War Museum as well as the revitalization of the 27 parks in the area, as well as the long term (and much needed) overhaul of the Harrisburg City School District.

Has he done a lot in his extended term in office? I think so.

Dang it! Can some one please notify a mod about the double post?

I’m surprised, the rail bridge across the Susquehanna and Harrisburg Transportation Center being already in place for CorridorOne. Information displays I read at the Transportation Center didn’t give any indication CorridorOne won’t be in place in the foreseeable future. Just the opposite impression is put forth.

Is Old City Hall still there? I lived there in '97-'98.

Old City Hall is now apartments. Nice, expensive apartments, but the building is still in use.

Mayor for Life Reed is under heavy criticism right now for issues with the incinerator, which was supposed to pay for itself and is instead consuming money at a prodigious rate, with the City Council for a myriad of reasons but mostly fiscal mismanagement, but mostly because he raided the city treasury to buy artifacts for a (get this) Wild West Museum he wants to open. He apparently forgot that Harrisburg hasn’t been a frontier town for 275 years.

…because it had nothing to do with trains, rivers, or basic geography.

I have to admit.
I did enter the museum’s giftshop. Visitors are permitted to enter the giftshop where admissions are sold and from which the museum proper is entered. I don’t have much use for giftshops either, of course – just wanted to see the inside of this handsome building on so dramatic a site. I was greeted, pleasantly, by museum personnel. After a quick stroll around the giftshop I made the mistake of exiting into the rotunda to reach another exit door very close to the door I entered by. The instant I crossed that imaginary line from giftshop to rotunda I distinctly heard the word, “Security,” said quietly, as if into a telephone, from the general direction of the person who formerly had greeted me so warmly.

When I said I lived there, I meant in those apartments. I figured it would still be around.

Hmm, rents have gone up. A lot.

Harrisburg is cited in Wikipedia as a National Civic League All-America City three times (or more) and thus in the All-America City “Hall of Fame.” (The All-America City Award is given by the National Civic League annually to ten cities in the United States, since 1949).

At the All-America city site Harrisburg is indeed in the list of Hall of Fame cities at the bottom of that page, under the heading “External Links,” but in the middle of the page under the heading “Hall of Fame,” Harrisburg’s place in the alphabetical order between Grand Rapids, MI, and Independence, MO, is taken by Hickory, NC (which is not included in the “External Links” list or at the Wikipedia Harrisburg article).

In any case, I am unable to determine for which three or more years Harrisburg was All-America City. Can anyone help?