Midtown is a
neighborhood
A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...
in
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, ...
. Its zip code is 17102. The Midtown neighborhood is delineated by Forster Street to the south, Maclay Street to the north, 7th Street to the east, and 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. Former Harrisburg Mayor
William K. Verbeke is the namesake for Verbeke Street (formerly Broad Street) and first bought and developed the area. Midtown is home to the
Pennsylvania Governor's Residence
The Pennsylvania Governor's Residence is the official residence of the governor of Pennsylvania, in the Uptown neighborhood of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The neo-Georgian residence was built from 1966 to 1968 and designed by George M. Ewing, head ...
(at its boundary with Uptown) and the
Broad Street Market
The Broad Street Market, opened in 1863, is located in the Midtown (Harrisburg), Midtown List of Harrisburg neighborhoods, neighborhood of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in the United States. Originally established on Broad Street (now Verbeke Street) b ...
, the oldest continually operated
street market
A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a ''souk'' (from the Arabic lang ...
in the country.
Midtown became named as such following World War II as state government construction expanded further north from the Capitol District. By 1977 the Midtown Square Action Council was established, and starting with the 1980s revitalization began and has continued since.
The section of Midtown from Reily to Kelker Streets and 2nd to 3rd Streets is known as
Engleton. Its
Queen Anne style homes were built in the 1890s by Benjamin Engle. The
Old Uptown,
Old Midtown, and
Old Fox Ridge historic district
A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...
s listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
are all contained within the Midtown neighborhood.
Olde Uptown is a neighborhood of large homes built in the early 1900s between Kelker and Maclay streets. The area, crime ridden for many years, is currently being aggressively renovated and rehabbed. Much of this neighborhood lies within the Old Uptown Historic District.
Demographics
As of the
2010 census there were 7,628 people living in Midtown. The racial makeup of Midtown was 53.4%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 36.6%
Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
or
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
, 2.3%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
and 8.4% were
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race. Persons aged 25–29 make up a large portion of the total population, at 13.6%. Approximately 5.5% of the total population consists of unmarried partners.
Education and Culture
![Broad Street Market - Stone Market House](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Broad_Street_Market_-_Stone_Market_House.jpg)
Formerly at the corner 3rd and Reily streets, the
Midtown Scholar Bookstore and Famous Reading Cafe opened in 2008 and subsequently expanded to the corner of Verbeke. Considered the largest used academic bookstore between
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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and
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, it contains thousands of used books, scholarly and otherwise from a wide range of fields.
The Midtown Cinema
movie theater
A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
is Harrisburg's only first-run
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
and
foreign film
World cinema is a term in film theory that refers to films made outside of the American motion picture industry, particularly those in opposition to the aesthetics and values of commercial American cinema.Nagib, Lúcia. "Towards a positive d ...
theater.
In 2007,
Harrisburg Area Community College
, mottoeng = Knowledge Restores Truth
, established = 1964, accredited in 1967
, type = Public, Community College
, president = John J. "Ski" Sygielski, Ed.D.
, city = Harrisburg
, state = PA
, country = USA
, undergrad = 19,000
, admini ...
opened its new Midtown campus at the corner of 3rd and Reilly streets in the renovated Evangelical Press Building. The building holds many of the college's technical programs and has a capacity to hold several hundred students. From 2019 to 2022, HACC began to leave its Midtown 2 building by the end of its lease, opting to relocate the programming to its main Wildwood campus to save money.
Midtown is known for its sizable
LGBTQ
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
population, while most of Harrisburg's
gay bars
A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) clientele; the term ''gay'' is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT communities.
Gay bars once served ...
and establishments are actually in the
Capitol District on the edge of Midtown.
The
Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center
The Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center, alternatively the House of Music, Arts & Culture (styled "H·MAC"), is a multidisciplinary arts and cultural center located in Midtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It is located in the historic Police Athletic Le ...
(H•MAC) occupies the formerly abandoned
Police Athletic League
The Police Athletic League (PAL; Police Activities League) is an organization in many American police departments in which members of the police force coach young people, both boys and girls, in sports, and help with homework and other school-rel ...
building on Third Street, which operates two performance venues with a bar and restaurant.
Economic Decline and Gentrification
Much of Midtown fell into disrepair in the 1970s and 1980s after the
Hurricane Agnes
Hurricane Agnes in 1972 was the costliest hurricane to hit the United States at the time, causing an estimated $2.1 billion in damage. The hurricane's death toll was 128. The effects of Agnes were widespread, from the Caribbean to Canada, ...
floods which damaged many homes, especially in the Old Uptown area. However, since the 1990s the neighborhood has gentrified drastically especially along the Penn and Green street corridors. This is primarily due to a strong housing stock for renovation and proximity to the
Central Business District
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
, which has been experiencing growth itself. Today,
gentrification
Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...
is spreading as many historic homes are getting rehabbed and upgraded throughout the northern and eastern part of Midtown.
Capitol Heights and Governor's Square are two new housing developments that are currently under construction. Together, they are adding several hundred new homes to Midtown.
See also
*
List of Harrisburg neighborhoods
The following is a list of neighborhoods, districts, and other sections located in the city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The list is organized by broader geographical sections within the city. While there is no official list of neighborhoods, dist ...
External links
Friends of MidtownMidtown Scholar BookstoreMidtown Square Action CouncilMidtown CinemaHarrisburg Midtown Arts Center
References
Neighborhoods in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
{{Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania