Italian Lake is a public park located at 3rd and Division Streets in the

Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

neighborhood within the Uptown section of

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 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 Pe ...

History

The 9.5 acre park was a side project to the William Penn High School constructed 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 ...

and was designed by

Warren Manning Warren Henry Manning (November 7, 1860–February 5, 1938) was an American landscape designer and promoter of the informal and naturalistic "wild garden" approach to garden design. In his designs, Manning emphasized pre-existing flora through a ...

. The Graham-McKee estate donated the acreages of former swampland in 1918, and construction began and was completed ten years later. Harrisburg resident and hotelier Patricio Rossi (1852-1925 and

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

to Patrick Russ) was attributed for the naming of the park, as he owned a nearby lodge directly west on Front Street nicknamed the "Italian" Hotel, from which the area came to be synonymous by. Historically in the winter, if the southern end of the lake would freeze enough, the

Harrisburg Bureau of Fire Harrisburg Bureau of Fire (HBF) is a firefighting agency that is located in and serves Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is a career firefighting agency with at least 15 firefighters and fire officers on duty a ...

would shovel and then squirt more water so the lake could be used for

ice skating Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be per ...

. By the 1980s, the park was later restored to its mid-century grandeurHarrisburg City Parks at-a-glance
City of Harrisburg, Department of Parks and Recreation. Retrieved 2011-01-28. The lake is surrounded by antique-style streetlights, textured walkways, and formal gardens maintained in the Italian Renaissance-style. Features of the park include a Japanese-style bridge representing harmony between nature and man and a stage for public events, and the

Dauphin County Veteran's Memorial Obelisk The Dauphin County Veteran's Memorial Obelisk, sometimes called the Harrisburg Obelisk, is an Egyptian-style obelisk that was erected in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania as a tribute to Dauphin County’s Civil War soldiers. Designed by civil engineer E. ...

formerly placed on State Street in front of the

Pennsylvania State Capitol The Pennsylvania State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Pennsylvania located in downtown Harrisburg which was designed by architect Joseph Miller Huston in 1902 and completed in 1906 in a Beaux-Arts style with decorative ...

. The lake also features a classical-style fountain formerly owned by

Milton Hershey Milton Snavely Hershey (September 13, 1857 – October 13, 1945) was an American chocolatier, businessman, and philanthropist. Trained in the confectionery business, Hershey pioneered the manufacture of caramel, using fresh milk. He launched t ...

entitled ''The Dance of Eternal Spring'', designed by Italian sculptor Giuseppe Donato with three dancing

nymphs A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are typ ...

representing art, music, and dance and modeled after local model Amanda Straw. Outdoor concerts, plays, town-hall style events, and pop-up markets are held at the park during the summer months.

References

External links

Italian Lake Park
Parks in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania {{HarrisburgPA-stub