Riverfront Park | |
---|---|
Location | Harrisburg, Pennsylvania |
Coordinates | 40°16′03″N76°53′33″W / 40.2674°N 76.8925°W Coordinates: 40°16′03″N76°53′33″W / 40.2674°N 76.8925°W |
Area | approx. 47.88 acres (19.38 ha) |
Established | 1912 |
Riverfront Park is a public park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania that spans beside the Susquehanna River.
The park runs parallel to the Susquehanna River between the shoreline and Front Street, from Vaughn Street at the north to the I-83 John Harris Bridge at the south. It includes a concrete waterfront esplanade as well as greenspace on the riverbank first developed during the City Beautiful Movement in the early 20th Century by Warren H. Manning as one of the first riverfront reclamations by American cities. [1] Riverfront Park overlooks views of the river, City Island, Wormleysburg and Blue Mountain in the distance. Riverfront Park is also part of the larger Capital Area Greenbelt and maintains bike lanes and paved paths. Along the park are many statues, memorials, a series of exercise pits, gardens, public art installations, and a Harrisburg Centennial time capsule. Special areas include the Sunken Gardens, gravesite of John Harris Sr., and Kunkel Memorial Plaza.
Riverfront Park plays host to many of Harrisburg's yearly festivals and events such as Kipona, Harrisburg Independence Day Celebration, ArtsFest, Woofstock Dog Festival, Pennsylvania Pump Primers' Antique Fire Apparatus Show & Muster, and the Pride Festival of Central PA.
Memorial [2] | Dedicated |
---|---|
Holocaust Memorial for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania | 1994 |
PennDOT Workers' Memorial | 2002 |
World War I Buddy Monument | 1922 |
Women's World War I Memorial | Unknown |
POW-MIA Monument | Unknown |
Vietnam Veterans Monument | 1986 |
Dr. Charles B. Fager Jr. Memorial (Principal of Harrisburg Technical High School) | 1984 |
Firefighters' Memorial | 1924 |
Submarine Veterans Memorial | Unknown |
Workers Memorial/AFL–CIO | 1990 |
City Beautiful Movement | 1991 |
Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pennsylvania.
City Island is a mile-long island in the Susquehanna River between Harrisburg and Wormleysburg, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is used mainly for leisure and sports activities. Its previous names have included Turkey Island, Maclay's Island, Forster's Island and Hargast Island. The island can be reached from either side of the Susquehanna River by Market Street Bridge or, from the Harrisburg side and by pedestrians and cyclists only, by Walnut Street Bridge.
Uptown is a section of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania located North of the Midtown and Downtown neighborhoods.
Downtown Harrisburg is the central core neighborhood, business and government center which surrounds the focal point of Market Square, and serves as the regional center for the greater metropolitan area of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States.
The Walnut Street Bridge also known as The People's Bridge, is a truss bridge that spanned the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania until 1996. Built by the Phoenix Bridge Company in 1890, it is the oldest remaining bridge connecting Harrisburg's downtown and Riverfront Park with City Island. Since flooding in 1996 collapsed sections of the western span, it no longer connects to the West Shore. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. A 2014 Cross-River Connections Study notes that the bridge currently serves as an "important bicycle and pedestrian link between City Island and downtown Harrisburg, connecting the city and the Capital Area Greenbelt to special events on City Island."
Allison Hill is a neighborhood in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is located directly east of downtown Harrisburg on a bluff overlooking the older original borough along the Susquehanna River. The Hill comprises some sub-neighborhoods, such as Hillside Village; others have nicknames such as "The Ville" and the "Third Ward". Primarily, it can be separated into three smaller neighborhoods: North Allison Hill, Central Allison Hill, and South Allison Hill. It was named after William Allison, an early Harrisburg landowner who owned farms on the bluff outside of the then-Borough. First referred to as "Allison's Farm" or "Allison's Hill Farm", it finally became shortened to "Allison Hill" as the City expanded.
The John Harris Bridge is a steel girder multilane highway bridge that carries Interstate 83 and the Capital Beltway across the Susquehanna River at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, connecting the East and West Shores of metropolitan Harrisburg. It is primarily used by commuters and local services, including the extensive local trucking industry, and also carries cross-river traffic to or from the counties of the lower Susquehanna valley.
Shipoke (SHY-poke) is a neighborhood in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Shipoke is delineated by I-83 to the south, Washington Street to the north, Second Street to the east, and the Susquehanna River to the west. It is Harrisburg Ward number one. Compared to the area of Harrisburg's other neighborhoods, Shipoke is small.
John Crain Kunkel was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. He was the grandson of John Christian Kunkel, great-grandson of John Sergeant, and great-great-grandson of Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant and Robert Whitehill. The John Crain Kunkel and Katherine Smoot Kunkel Memorial in Riverfront Park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, also known as "Kunkel Plaza," is a scenic amphitheater at Front Street & State Street down from the Pennsylvania State Capitol along the Susquehanna River dedicated in 1992 for their many years of service and dedication to the community.
The Capital Beltway is a beltway surrounding Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is co-designated as Interstate 81 (I-81), I-83, U.S. Route 11 (US 11), US 322, and Pennsylvania Route 581 (PA 581) at various locations along the route. The beltway is primarily located in the suburbs of Harrisburg on both sides of the Susquehanna River; however, part of its southern leg passes along the southern edge of downtown. The southern section of the highway is named the Harrisburg Expressway. Officially designated in 1997, the Beltway is an assemblage of several freeways built over the preceding 45 years.
The Capital Area Greenbelt is a looping trail located in the area of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. This 20-mile loop around Pennsylvania's capital city provides visitors and tourists with opportunities to hike, ride bicycles, skate, jog, fish, walk their dogs, spot rare birds, learn about history, enjoy native flora and fauna, and appreciate nature. While parts of the trail are shared with roads, most of the loop is a dedicated path. The Trail, as it is commonly referred to by locals, passes along the Susquehanna River through Reservoir Park, Riverfront Park, Five Senses Garden, and Wildwood Park and Nature Center. In addition to parks, the Capital Area Greenbelt passes alongside attractions including the grave site of John Harris Sr., the Governor's Mansion, Fort Hunter, Harrisburg State Hospital, and the National Civil War Museum.
The history of Harrisburg, the state capital of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, has played a key role in the development of the nation's industrial history from its origins as a trading outpost to the present. Harrisburg has played a critical role in American history during the Westward Migration, the American Civil War, and the Industrial Revolution. For part of the 19th century, the building of the Pennsylvania Canal and later the Pennsylvania Railroad allowed Harrisburg to become one of the most industrialized cities in the Northeast.
The Detroit International Riverfront is a tourist attraction and landmark of Detroit, Michigan, extending from the Ambassador Bridge in the west to Belle Isle in the east, for a total of 5.5 miles. The International Riverfront encompasses a cruise ship passenger terminal and dock, a marina, a multitude of parks, restaurants, retail shops, skyscrapers, and high rise residential areas along with TCF Center. The Marriott at the Renaissance Center and the Robert's Riverwalk Hotel are also situated along the International Riverfront. Private companies and foundations together with the city, state, and federal government have contributed several hundred million dollars toward the riverfront development. Key public spaces in the International Riverfront, such as the RiverWalk, Dequindre Cut Greenway and Trail, William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor, and a cruise ship passenger terminal and dock at Hart Plaza complement the architecture of the area. The area provides a venue for a variety of annual events and festivals including the Detroit Electronic Music Festival, Detroit Free Press International Marathon, the Detroit International Jazz Festival, Motor City Pride, the North American International Auto Show, River Days and Detroit China Festival. In February 2021, the Detroit International Riverfront was voted best riverwalk in the United States by USA Today readers. It was selected a second time as the best riverwalk in the U.S. in 2022.
Hardscrabble was a small settlement of mostly frame structures in Midtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania from late 18th century to 1924, so named because of its reputation as a rough place.
Harrisburg's Market Square is located in Downtown Harrisburg at the intersection of 2nd and Market Streets. The square was created in 1785. Since then, it has traditionally been the navigational center of the city, and since the 1980s has undergone a revival with several new commercial, residential and retail spaces either planned or built. Market Square serves as a hub for Capital Area Transit (CAT) buses. It is one block from Riverfront Park and the Market Street Bridge, which crosses over the Susquehanna River.
This is a timeline of the major events in the history of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and vicinity.
The Holocaust Memorial for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a Holocaust memorial at Front and Sayford Streets along Riverfront Park, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It was conceived by a committee of Holocaust survivors in 1992 representing the Jewish Community Center of Harrisburg. In light of publicity given to the U.S. Holocaust Museum, a group of survivors that had lived in the Harrisburg area pressed for a local memorial. It was designed by David Ascalon for $200,000 on a site designated by the City of Harrisburg along the public park land adjacent to the Susquehanna River. The Memorial was dedicated in 1994. An annual Yom Hashoah observance is held at the site.
The Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex is a large complex of state government buildings in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Set on more than 50 acres (20 ha) of downtown Harrisburg, it includes the Pennsylvania State Capitol and a landscaped park environment with monuments, memorials, and other government buildings. It is bounded on the north by Forster Street, the east by North 7th Street, the south by Walnut Street, and the west by North 3rd Street. Most of this area is a National Historic Landmark District, recognized in 2013 as a fully realized example of the City Beautiful movement landscape and planning design of Arnold Brunner.
Kipona is an annual festival held each Labor Day weekend in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania celebrating the Susquehanna River. Its name means "on sparkling water" to some Native Americans, of which "sparkling water" was thought to be what the river was traditionally called by the Susquehannock and Shawanese tribes.