Judging by the solid, stone- and marble-structures of the Capitol complex, it might seem as if the state government has been in Harrisburg forever, since the very beginning of Pennsylvania. However, that’s not the case. Several cities preceded Harrisburg as the state capital.
From 1682 until 1799, Philadelphia served as the seat of government and, from its humble beginnings, rose to be the largest city in the colonies by the time of the American Revolution. By the end of the 18th century, people were moving westward, across the Susquehanna, down the Shenandoah and Ohio River valleys. As a result, the General Assembly began, in 1789, to search for a more centrally located site for a new capital city.
In 1785, John Harris Jr. offered the commonwealth four acres of “publick ground,” free of charge, so long as his town (initially called Louisburg but quickly changed to Harrisburg) was selected as the capital city. Throughout the 1790s, the debate of when and where to move the capital raged, but it was fear prompted by several yellow fever epidemics in Philadelphia that finally motivated the Assembly to move the seat of government to Lancaster in 1799. On December 3, 1799, state legislators met for the first time in the Lancaster County Courthouse.
The move, however, did not settle the issue. Lancaster, though a better choice than Philadelphia, did not satisfy many legislators, and the debate over moving the seat of government ensued nearly every time the Assembly met. Lancaster’s citizens attempted to offer free land, as John Harris had done, to keep the capital in their city, but this was never fully accomplished.
As a result, in 1809, a full-scale debate occurred, and every city and town that had ever entertained thoughts of becoming the capital city made a proposal, perhaps sensing that this was the last time a permanent change in the seat of government would occur.
In the end, Philadelphia, Lancaster, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, Middletown, Northumberland, Bellefonte, Carlisle, Reading, Sunbury and Columbia were locations that were proposed and voted upon. On Feb. 21, 1810, Gov. Simon Snyder signed the act moving the seat of government, and, in October 1812, the General Assembly met in Harrisburg for the first time.
The Assembly soon purchased another 10 acres of ground north of Harris’ tract, from U.S. Sen. William Maclay. (The Harris tract is now Capitol Park, while Maclay’s tract, a low rising hill, is where the Capitol is located.) Commissioners were appointed to supervise the movement of books, desks and other items from Lancaster to the old Dauphin County Courthouse, which served as the temporary Capitol.
The Assembly contracted the services of master builder Stephen Hills for two state office buildings and a brick, federal-style Capitol between them, which was completed in 1822. That building burned to the ground in 1897, replaced, nine years later, by the current, magnificent Beaux Arts-style Capitol building, as Harrisburg completed its long transformation from muddy backwater to modern capital city.
