Harrisburg
Harrisburg names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Harrisburg a city, capital of the State of Pennsylvania
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city, capital of the State of Pennsylvania, and county-seat of Dauphin co.; on the Susquehanna river, the Pennsylvania canal, and on the Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia and Reading, the Cumberland Valley, and the Northern Central railroads; 160 miles W. of Philadelphia. It is a railroad center with direct connections with the coal and iron resources of the State, and is an extensive lumber depot. Public Interests. - The city is well laid out, lighted with electricity, and surrounded by magnificent scenery. The State capitol buildings are located in the midst of a beautiful park of 10 acres on a gentle rise of ground. The Capitol is one of the most magnificent buildings in the world. Other points of interest are Fort Washington, just across the Susquehanna river, marking the most northern point of the Confederate advance; Gettysburg, with its famous battlefield, 46 miles to the south; the Executive Mansion, 313 North Front street; the Rockville four-track railroad bridge, five miles to the north, the largest stone arch bridge in the world; Hershey Park and the model town of the Hershey Chocolate Company, 12 miles to the east, and the beautiful Masonic Home at Elizabethtown, 17 miles away. The educational institutions include 35 public schools, two junior high schools, and many private schools. The total enrollment in 1920 an was over 13,000. Harrisburg is the seat He of a Roman Catholic bishop, and its charitable organizations include several finally hospitals, the Home of the Friendless, and the Children's Industrial Home. It post- has electric street railway connections with neighboring towns. Business Interests. - The iron, steel, and lumber industries are of great importance. The leading manufactures are machinery, boilers, bricks, castings, brooms, cars and coaches, tanned leather, lumber, cotton goods, iron, steel, tin plate, shoes, clothing, and flour. Much trade is carried on in butter, hay, and other farm products. In 1919 there were 4 National banks and several private banking houses with total resources of $31,000,000. The clearings in 1919 were $154,767,943. The assessed property valuation in 1919 was $62,500,000. History. Harrisburg was founded by John Harris in 1785; was incorporated as a borough in 1791; became the State capital in 1812; and received its charter as a city in 1860. Pop. (1910) 64,186; (1920) 75,917.
Harrisburg a city of Illinois
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city of Illinois, the county-seat of Saline co. It is on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis and the Southern Illinois Railway and Power Company railroads. It is the center of an important agricultural and coal mining region. Its industries include flour mills, wagon shops, sawmills, etc. It has a library, a post office, and other important public buildings. Pop. (1910) 5,309; (1920) 7,125.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote in 1921, Harrisburg was a booming rail and steel town of 75,917 whose population had risen every decade; it peaked near 90,000 around 1950 and has since fallen to roughly 50,000, while the surrounding suburbs grew. The iron, steel and lumber trades that Collier's listed have largely gone, and the city's most famous modern event is the March 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant a few miles downriver; deep municipal debt from a trash incinerator project pushed Harrisburg into state fiscal receivership in 2011. The 1906 Capitol that Collier's called "one of the most magnificent buildings in the world" still stands, as do the Rockville stone arch bridge and Hershey's model town. The Illinois Harrisburg remains a small county seat of about 8,000, its coal industry much shrunken, and it lost eight residents to a tornado in February 2012.
Written for this edition, 2026.