Hardscrabble was a small settlement of mostly frame structures in Midtown

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the List of c ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

from late 18th century to 1924, so named because of its reputation as a rough place. Hardscrabble district along the Susquehanna River

It was bounded by the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

to the west, Calder Street to the north, Herr Street to the South and overlapping Front street to the east. Due to the prominence of the

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

industry at the time, it was a riverside congregation area for the workers containing boat liveries, lumber mills and other business related to the river trade. Upon the decline of logging and river coal

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

, the area fell into disrepair by the early 20th Century. In the midst of the

City Beautiful Movement The City Beautiful Movement was a reform philosophy of North American architecture and urban planning that flourished during the 1890s and 1900s with the intent of introducing beautification and monumental grandeur in cities. It was a part of the ...

in the early 1900s, the City Council was working to improve the city by paving streets and erecting steps on and paving the

esplanade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...

along Riverfront Park. Because the settlement was impeding part of the city map's plan for Front Street—which had never been formally opened to date—Ross A. Hickok of the Harrisburg League of Municipal Improvements proposed to eliminate the area in the early 1910s. Referred to by the ''Harrisburg Telegraph'' in 1915 as "The Gap in the Steps," Hardscrabble was "the only unsightly interruption in the magnificent line of the 'front steps of Harrisburg.'" After the members of the seaside community collectively denied repeated attempts by the City to purchase their homes, the City took them to court for

eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

. The neighborhood was condemned by the City in 1915, and City Council awarded more than $64,000 (over $1.7m in 2021 dollars) in damages to property owners, decided upon by square footage of property. Litigation ensued until residents eventually were forced to vacate the premises in 1921. Among the displaced were the A. P. Dintaman and Harry J. Berrier boat pavilions, which housed over 500 canoes and watercraft. By 1924, the settlement was ultimately demolished and the basement foundations for some of the homes were kept to be transformed into the Sunken Gardens.

References

{{Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Neighborhoods in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania