{"nrhp_refnum":"94001056","name":"Harris Switch Tower, Pennsylvania Railroad","other_names":["HG Tower","Harris Tower"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"637 Walnut St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Harrisbug","county":"Dauphin County","state":"PA","lat":40.26531879200007,"lon":-76.87931179599997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-08-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick interlocking switch tower on the west side of the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks just north of the Harrisburg railroad station, Harrisburg, Dauphin County. Built in mid-1929 for the Pennsylvania Railroad and put into full use on April 26, 1930.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the tower is significant for its role in controlling train movements through the Harrisburg station and yards, and for its architecture, which blends Colonial and Tudor Revival elements in a utilitarian railroad building. It is presented as a fine surviving example of a switch tower with much of its original interlocking machinery, and of railroad technology from the railroad's golden age.","narrative":"Built in 1929 and put into service on April 26, 1930, the Harris Switch Tower is a two-story Flemish bond brick building beside the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks in Harrisburg, just north of the passenger station. It housed an interlocking machine with 115 levers that controlled track switches and signals across the yard, and a model board whose coloured lights showed which tracks were occupied. Consolidating two older towers, it allowed twelve employees to do work that had required twenty-one. Its transportation importance lies in controlling east-west traffic through Harrisburg during the railroad's busiest decades, when more than 100 passenger trains passed daily. Its architecture mixes Colonial Revival brickwork and keystones with Tudor Revival projecting bay and bracketed eaves. Much of the original interlocking equipment survives, and the building is regarded as a good example of a type of which comparatively few remain. Amtrak closed it in 1991.","period_of_significance":"1929-1944","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial Revival; Tudor Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Closed by Amtrak in 1991 and purchased by the Harrisburg Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in 1992; interlocking machine and model board remain.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.76465-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/94001056.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94001056/72b46762c5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94001056/72b46762c5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Niagara","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harris_Switch_Tower.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Niagara</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harris_Switch_Tower.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995821","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_Switch_Tower","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12059586"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/dauphin-county/harris-switch-tower-pennsylvania-railroad-94001056/"}