Midtown Harrisburg Historic District

Midtown is a residential district of two and a half and three story brick and frame rows on the east bank side of downtown Harrisburg, built mostly between 1860 and 1910, with most dating from about 1875. Its rows were laid out in six subdivisions between 1857 and 1879, beginning with the William Verbeke tract of 1857. Second Street was the most prestigious address, lined with townhouses for professional and merchant families. The buildings show Italianate, Second Empire and Queen Anne detailing, including decorative wood brackets, corbelled brick cornices and mansard roofs, and the district is regarded as one of the most intact areas in the city. Its significance rests on the cohesion of its block fronts and its connection to River Front Park, developed in the early twentieth century under the City Beautiful movement, and to the Broad Street Market. Forster Street's widening in 1950 separated it from the neighborhood to the south.