CITY WIDE SIGHTS
Uptown Harrisburg and Riverside
The 20th Century-developed city marching northward up-river… Italian Lake’s serenity punctuating parkland enrichment… Grand Front Street mansions gazing upon pristine Susquehanna River islands. The site of Camp Curtin and the training ground for thousands who went forward to preserve the Union. Homes of substance and lasting quality set amidst educational and medical institutions.
1. Camp Curtin Fire Station* - 2504 N. Sixth Street.
Turn-of-the-20th Century uptown firehouse named for the Civil War training camp, which occupied this entire neighborhood. Converted in the late 1980s to a well-established eatery featuring barbecue cuisine.
2. Camp Curtin Park/Mitchell Memorial Methodist Church - N. Sixth and Woodbine Streets.
Smallest state park in the Commonwealth. Commemorates the site of Camp Curtin, the largest Union camp during the Civil War and second only to Gettysburg in its importance in the state’s war role. Confederate General Robert E. Lee set upon capturing Camp Curtin and Harrisburg when his troops marched northward, arriving across the river from Harrisburg, before being directed to a skirmish which grew into the battle of Gettysburg 35 miles away. Named for Civil War-era Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin. Adjacent church is home to the Camp Curtin Historical Society and features an inspiring Civil War mural.
3. Dixon University Center - 2986 N. Second Street.
Developed in the 1920s as the Harrisburg Academy, English collegiate-styled campus now serves as a regional higher education facility sponsored by the State System of Higher Education, with the State System also headquartered at the site. Campus thoroughly restored with underground parking garage.
4. Front Street Corridor Mansions - N. Front Street.
Culmination of 150 years of the development of Harrisburg’s most stately homes beginning with the John Harris Mansion of the 1760s to the south and evolving northward with 19th Century structures to these magnificent revivals of the 1920s. Tremendous views of the Susquehanna.
5. Italian Lake - N. Third and Division Streets.
Baroque park setting paradise around a manmade lake reclaimed from a swamp in the 1930s. Lake spanned by the picturesque Japanese Bridge and accented by the “Dance of the Eternal Spring” centerpiece sculpture. Both southern and northern lakes thoroughly upgraded and stabilized including enhancement of surrounding gardens and installation of period lighting.
6. King Mansion (Merchant’s and Business Men’s Mutual Insurance Company) - 2201 N. Front Street.
Magnificent Front Street mansion erected in 1926 as the home of the King family. Southern wing added later in matching architectural style when building was converted to offices. Note Mediterranean tiled roof, Italianate exterior features, broad portico and extensive grounds.
7. Obelisk - N. Third and Division Streets, Northeast Corner.
Inspired by the classic Greek obelisk. Originally erected in the middle of the N. Second and State Streets intersection downtown from 1866 to 1876 as a tribute to Dauphin County’s Civil War soldiers. Moved to its present location in 1960.
Shown in larger overview map, captions clockwise from left: Dixon University Center, Italian Lake, Camp Curtin State Park, Enduring Second Street duplexes.
