Downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Skyline

Website www.harrisburgpa.gov

Harrisburg is the capital city of Pennsylvania. As of 2011, the city had a population of 49,673, making it the ninth-largest city in Pennsylvania. [5] Harrisburg is also the county seat of Dauphin County [6] and lies on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, 105 miles (169 km) west-northwest of Philadelphia.

The Harrisburg-Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Dauphin, Cumberland, and Perry counties, had a population of 509,074 in 2000 and grew to 549,850 in 2010. A July 1, 2007 estimate placed the population at 528,892, making it the fifth largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown–Bethlehem–Easton (the Lehigh Valley), and Scranton–Wilkes Barre. [7] The Harrisburg-Carlisle-Lebanon Combined Statistical Area, including both the Harrisburg-Carlisle and Lebanon Metropolitan Statistical Areas, had an estimated population of 656,781 in 2007 and was the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in the state. [8]

Harrisburg played a notable role in American history during the Westward Migration, the American Civil War, and the Industrial Revolution. During part of the 19th century, the building of the Pennsylvania Canal and later the Pennsylvania Railroad allowed Harrisburg to become one of the most industrialized cities in the Northeastern United States. The U.S. Navy ship USS Harrisburg, which served from 1918 to 1919 at the end of World War I, was named in honor of the city.

In the mid-to-late 20th century, the city's economic fortunes fluctuated with its major industries consisting of government, heavy manufacturing including the production of steel, agriculture (the greater Harrisburg area is at the heart of the fertile Pennsylvania Dutch Country), and food services (nearby Hershey is home of the chocolate maker, located just 10 miles east of Harrisburg). In 1981, following contractions in the steel and dairy industries, Harrisburg was declared the second most distressed city in the nation. [9] The city subsequently experienced a resurgence under its former mayor Stephen R. Reed, [10] with nearly $3 billion in new investment realized during his lengthy tenure. [11]

The Pennsylvania Farm Show, the largest free indoor agriculture exposition in the United States, was first held in Harrisburg in 1917 and has been held there every early-to-mid January since then. [12] Harrisburg also hosts an annual outdoor sports show, the largest of its kind in North America, as well as an auto show, which features a large static display of new as well as classic cars and is renowned nationwide. Harrisburg is also known for the Three Mile Island accident, which occurred on March 28, 1979 near Middletown.

In 2010 Forbes rated Harrisburg as the second best place in the U.S. to raise a family. [13] Despite the city's recent financial troubles, in 2010 The Daily Beast website ranked 20 metropolitan areas across the country as being recession-proof, and the Harrisburg region landed at No. 7. [14] The financial stability of the region is in part due to the high concentration of state and federal government agencies. The finances of the city itself however, have been poorly managed and its inability to repay its bond debt has created an ongoing fiscal crisis.

The White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States, located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C.. It has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800.

The house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, [1]

and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia Creek sandstone in the Neoclassical style. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he (with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe) expanded the building outward, creating two colonnades that were meant to conceal stables and storage. [2]

In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army in the Burning of Washington, destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior. Reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed Executive Residence in October 1817. Construction continued with the addition of the South Portico in 1824 and the North in 1829.

Because of crowding within the executive mansion itself, President Theodore Roosevelt had all work offices relocated to the newly constructed West Wing in 1901. Eight years later, President William Howard Taft expanded the West Wing and created the first Oval Office which was eventually moved as the section was expanded. The third-floor attic was converted to living quarters in 1927 by augmenting the existing hip roof with long shed dormers. A newly constructed East Wing was used as a reception area for social events; Jefferson's colonnades connected the new wings.

East Wing alterations were completed in 1946, creating additional office space. By 1948, the house's load-bearing exterior walls and internal wood beams were found to be close to failure. Under Harry S. Truman, the interior rooms were completely dismantled and a new internal load-bearing steel frame constructed inside the walls. Once this work was completed, the interior rooms were rebuilt.

Today, the White House Complex includes the Executive Residence, West Wing, East Wing, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building -- the former State Department, which now houses offices for the President's staff and the Vice President -- and Blair House, a guest residence.

The Executive Residence is made up of six stories—the Ground Floor, State Floor, Second Floor, and Third Floor, as well as a two-story basement. The term White House is regularly used as a metonym for the Executive Office of the President of the United States and for the president's administration and advisers in general. The property is a National Heritage Site owned by the National Park Service and is part of the President's Park. In 2007, it was ranked second on the American Institute of Architects list of "America's Favorite Architecture".

United States capitol building. Capitol Hill

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the Residence Act approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country's East Coast. As permitted by the U.S. Constitution, the District is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States Congress and is therefore not a part of any U.S. state.

The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, which included the preexisting settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria; however, Congress returned the Virginia portion in 1846. Named in honor of George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. Congress created a single municipal government for the whole District of Columbia after the American Civil War.

Washington, D.C., had an estimated population of 632,323 in 2012, the 25th most populous place in the United States. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington Metropolitan Area, of which the District is a part, has a population of 5.7 million, the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the country.

The centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to many national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of many international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups, and professional associations.

A locally elected mayor and 13-member council have governed the District since 1973; however, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. The District has a non-voting, at-large Congressional delegate, but no senators. The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961, grants the District three electoral votes in presidential elections.

Boy Scout Memorial. Washington, D.C

The Boy Scout Memorial is a public artwork by American sculptor Donald De Lue, located at The Ellipse in Washington, D.C., United States. This sculpture was surveyed in 1993 as part of the Smithsonian's Save Outdoor Sculpture! program. Boy Scout Memorial serves as a tribute to the Boy Scouts of America [1]

The sculpture consists of three bronze figures: a Boy Scout in the center wearing a uniform stepping forward and carrying a walking stick in his left hand. Flanking him are two larger allegorical figures of a man and woman. They represent "American Manhood and Womanhood and the ideals they will pass onto the youth." To the Boy Scout's right side is the male figure, nearly nude, who carries a bundle of leaves and drapery in his left arm. Part of the drapery blows across his middle as he strides forward with his right leg. To the Scout's left side is the female figure who holds a torch in her left hand that has a gold-colored flame. Her left hand extends slightly and her palm is facing upward and she strides forward on her right leg. The three figures are mounted on a hexagonal-shaped base (62 x 92 x 98 in.) and in front of the sculpture is a circular pool of water.

A panel on the base is inscribed with the Scout Oath:

On my honor I Will do my best To do my duty To God & my Country and to obey the Scout law to Help other people At all times To keep myself Physically strong Mentally awake And morally Straight

The rim of the pool is inscribed:

This memorial was authorized by the Congress of the United States and directed in recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America in grateful tribute to the men and women whose generosity devotion and leadership have brought Scouting to the nation's youth and to honor all members of the Boy Scouts of America who in days of peace and times of peril have their duty to God and their country.

State Street Bridge. Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Bridge's Pylons. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

The State Street Bridge, also known as the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Bridge, is a 1,312-foot (400 m) concrete, deck arch bridge that spans Pennsylvania Route 230 and Paxton Creek in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The bridge was completed in 1930 and was intended to be the principal entrance into downtown Harrisburg and the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex from the east.

The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1988, and was documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in 1997.

History

Design

See also

Notes

References

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After the Pennsylvania State Capitol building burned to ground in 1897, plans were drawn up to improve and

expand the park that surrounds the Capitol building. [5] The plans were for a more impressive Capitol building that would prevent other Pennsylvania cities like Philadelphia from challenging Harrisburg's claim as the seat of the state

government. [5] After the land that was necessary for the expansion was acquired in 1916, Arnold Brunner was hired to design the plans for the construction and landscaping of the new buildings. Planning was interrupted by World War I.

After the war, in 1919, it was decided to make the bridge a memorial to the armed forces of the United States and

Pennsylvania that had fought in the war. [6] The Pennsylvania General Assembly passed an act authorizing the construction of the bridge on July 18, 1919. In 1926, William Gehron and Sidney Ross revised the plans that Brunner had made for the bridge in 1921 after his death in 1925. Changes they made included a more massive bridge

and taller, "more streamlined" pylons. [6]

Construction began on the bridge in September 1925. The General Assembly appropriated $361,000 ($4.83 million in present-day terms) for the bridge in the 1927 and 1929

sessions of the assembly. [7][8] The city of Harrisburg also contributed $300,000 ($4.01 million in present-day

terms). [8] The bridge was completed on August 22, 1930.

The bridge was renovated in 1955 by J. Richard Nissley, who added a 36-foot (11 m) steel girder span on the

bridge's east end. [2] The road deck and sidewalks were

replaced in 1957. [2] The State Street Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1988

Smithsonian Museum

The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. With free admission and open doors 364 days a year, it is the most visited natural history museum in the world. [1] Opened in 1910, the museum on the National Mall was one of the first Smithsonian buildings constructed exclusively to hold the national collections and research facilities. [2] The main building has an overall area of 1.5 million square feet with 325,000 square feet of exhibition and public space. In total, the museum has the space of 18 football fields and houses over 1,000 employees. [2]
The museum's collections total over 126 million specimens [2] of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, and human cultural artifacts. With 7.4 million visitors in 2009, it is the most visited of all of the Smithsonian museums that year [3] and is also home to about 185 professional natural history scientists — the largest group of scientists dedicated to the study of natural and cultural history in the world.

Eisenhower Executive Office Building

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB), formerly known as the Old Executive Office Building (OEOB) and as the State, War, and Navy Building, is an office building in Washington, D.C., just west of the White House. The building is maintained by General Services Administration and occupied by the White House Office of Administration/Executive Office of the President. It is on 17th Street NW, between Pennsylvania Avenue and New York Avenue, and West Executive Drive. The building is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. Many White House employees have their offices in this structure.

Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Tree. Washington, D.C

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience. King has become a national icon in the history of American progressivism. [1]

A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, King led an unsuccessful struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia in 1962, and organized nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama that attracted national attention following television news coverage of the brutal police response. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history. He also established his reputation as a radical, and became an object of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's COINTELPRO for the rest of his life. FBI agents investigated him for possible communist ties, recorded his extramarital liaisons and reported on them to government officials, and on one occasion, mailed King a threatening anonymous letter that he interpreted as an attempt to make him commit suicide.

On October 14, 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence. In 1965, he and the SCLC helped to organize the Selma to Montgomery marches, and the following year, he took the movement north to Chicago. In the years leading up to his death, he expanded his focus to include poverty and the Vietnam War, alienating many of his liberal allies with a 1967 speech titled "Beyond Vietnam." King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., called the Poor People's Campaign.

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. His death was followed by riots in many US cities. Allegations that James Earl Ray, the man convicted of killing him, had been framed or acted in concert with government agents persisted for decades after the shooting, and the jury of a 1999 civil trial found Loyd Jowers to be complicit in a conspiracy against King. King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2004; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a U.S. federal holiday in 1986. Hundreds of streets in the U.S. have been renamed in his honor. A memorial statue in Washington, D.C. was opened to the public in 2011.

Washington Monument

The Washington Monument is an obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate the first American president, General George Washington. The monument, made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss, [1] is both the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk, standing 555 feet 5 1 ⁄ 8 inches

(169.294 m). [n 1] Taller monumental columns exist, but they are neither all stone nor true obelisks. [n 2]

Construction of the monument began in 1848, but was halted from 1854 to 1877, and finally completed in 1884. The hiatus in construction happened because of co-option by the Know Nothing party, a lack of funds, and the intervention of the American Civil War. A difference in shading of the marble, visible approximately 150 feet (46 m) or 27% up, shows where construction was halted. Its original design was by Robert Mills, an architect of the 1840s, but his design was modified significantly when construction resumed. The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1848; the capstone was set on December 6, 1884, and the completed monument was dedicated on February 21, 1885. [7] It officially opened October 9, 1888. Upon completion, it became the world's tallest structure, a title previously held by the Cologne Cathedral. The monument held this designation until 1889, when the Eiffel Tower was completed in Paris, France. The monument stands due east of the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial. The monument was damaged during the Virginia earthquake of August 23, 2011 and Hurricane Irene in the same year; it remains closed to the public while the structure is assessed and repaired. [8] The National Park Service estimates the monument will be closed until 2014. Difficulties in repair include complexities such as the time needed to erect scaffolding.

Lewistown Amtrak Station.

Lewistown Station is an Amtrak railway station located about 60 miles northwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania at PA Route 103 and Helen Street in Lewistown, Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. The station is actually located across the Juniata River from Lewistown proper, a little less than one mile south of the center of the borough. Lewistown Station is currently only served by Amtrak's Pennsylvanian, which operates once per day in each direction. Until 2005, Lewistown was served by a second daily train, the Three Rivers (a replacement service for the legendary Broadway Limited), an extended version of the Pennsylvanian that terminated in Chicago. Upon its cancellation, the sole Pennsylvanian marked the first time in Lewistown's railway history that the town was served by just a single, daily passenger train.

A station building exists at the stop, which is open before and during train departure times. However, there is no ticket office at this station. The distance between Lewistown and the next station eastward, the Harrisburg Transportation Center, is the longest distance between stations (61 miles) anywhere along the route between Pittsburgh and New York.

The station house, according to volunteers that staff it, is the oldest structure built by the Pennsylvania Railroad which is still standing. The station itself is the oldest continually operated train station in America.

Metro Bank Park. Harrisburg Senators

Metro Bank Park is a baseball park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It is the home field of the Harrisburg Senators minor league baseball team. The original structure was built in 1987 and it was called Riverside Stadium until 2004. Currently, the ballpark has a capacity of 6,187 people. [6] The ballpark received a $30 million renovation beginning in 2008. The stadium is located on City Island, in the Susquehanna River.

Metro Bank Park sits on the exact spot where baseball had been played earlier in the century, where other Harrisburg teams played from 1907-1952. The location, City Island, is a sixty-two-acre waterfront park and sports complex. The facilities include volleyball courts, softball fields, a football/soccer field, water golf, nature tails, jogging paths, cycling paths, two marinas, the "Pride of the Susquehanna" paddlewheel riverboat, a food court called RiverSide Village, and a miniature train that runs around the island for tours. Also the Harrisburg City Islanders soccer team plays on the island at Skyline Sports Complex, next to Metro Bank Park.

The original ballpark is a steel and aluminum structure, and over the course of time, additional seating areas were built along 1st base, and box seats in foul territory and in front of the grandstands behind home plate to provide additional seating, despite official capacity being listed over 6,000 since the park's inception. The stadium was used as the spring training facility in the movie Major League II, starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger and Corbin Bernsen.

Sony MDR XB300

Review by TIM GIDEON

If you haven't heard, there's a new trend in inexpensive earphones and headphones: Pile on the bass. Sony's new XB line features affordable in-ear and headphone models, and the MDR-XB300 ($49.99 list) is an alluring option for anyone on a tight budget who wants deep bass and big yet lightweight, cushiony headphones. Audiophiles, though, can stop reading here, because there's nothing "accurate" about these headphones. The low end is boosted dramatically, and the high-frequency response is oddly sculpted. Low-end lovers who listen to a lot of rap, rock, or electronic music, on the other hand, should give this inexpensive, good-looking pair a listen.

Mount Rainier. Seattle, Washington.

Mount Rainier [7] is a massive stratovolcano located 54 miles (87 km) southeast of Seattle in the state of Washington, United States. It is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc, with a summit elevation of 14,411 ft (4,392 m). [1][2] Mt. Rainier is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, and it is on the Decade Volcano list. [8][dead link] Because of its large amount of glacial ice, Mt. Rainier could potentially produce massive lahars that would threaten the whole Puyallup[9]

Dance of Eternal Spring. Italian Lake

Italian Lake Park is a public park located at 3rd and Division Streets in the Uptown neighborhood of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

The 9.5 acre park was restored to its mid-century grandeur in the 1980s. [1] 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 beautiful Japanese-style bridge representing harmony between nature and man and a classical-style fountain designed with three muses of art, music and dance, entitle "Dance of Eternal Spring." Outdoor concerts are held at the park during the Summer months.

Wildwood Park. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Wildwood Park is a public park in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The 210 acre park is known for its 90 acre shallow lake and over 6 miles of trails. [1] The park is within the city of Harrisburg; however, it is administered and maintained by the Dauphin County parks department. The park runs parallel to the Paxton Creek, a tributary of the Susquehanna River, on the northern side of Harrisburg and adjacent to the main campus of HACC, Central Pennsylvania's Community College. Wildwood Park is also part of the Capital Area Greenbelt.

Pennsylvania's State Capitol building in Harrisburg.

The Pennsylvania State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and is in downtown Harrisburg. It was designed in 1902 in a Beaux-Arts style with Renaissance themes throughout. The capitol houses the chambers for the Pennsylvania General Assembly, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the Harrisburg chambers for the Supreme and Superior Courts of Pennsylvania, as well as the offices of the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor. It is also the main building of the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex.

The seat of government for the state was originally in Philadelphia, then was relocated to Lancaster in 1799 and finally to Harrisburg in 1812. The current capitol, known as the Huston Capitol, is the third state capitol building to be built in Harrisburg. The first, the Hills Capitol, was destroyed in 1897 by a fire and the second, the Cobb Capitol, was left unfinished when funding was discontinued in 1899.

Joseph Miller Huston designed the current capitol, dedicated in 1906. After its completion, the capitol project was the subject of a graft scandal. The construction and subsequent furnishing cost three times more than the General Assembly had appropriated for the project. Huston and four others were convicted of graft in relation to costs of the total project.

The capitol is often referred to as a "palace of art" because of its many sculptures, murals and stained-glass windows, most of which use Pennsylvania themes or were made by Pennsylvanians. [3] The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. Starting in 1982, the restoration of the capitol has been ongoing.