Widgets, Not Words: Before becoming a government town, Harrisburg was an industrial powerhouse.

The rise of Harrisburg as an industrial city is linked to its rise as a transportation hub in the earliest years of the 19^th century.

After the completion of the Camelback Bridge over the Susquehanna in 1820 and the state canal system, smaller forges, furnaces and foundries began locating in the city. The railroad revolution of the 1840s increased the ability to move raw materials, and larger industries began to locate in the city. In 1850, the Porter Furnace, the first anthracite furnace in the city, was built. In 1852, the Harrisburg Cotton Manufacturing Co. began, followed by the Central Iron Works a year later. The Hickok Eagle Works began printing ruled paper in the 1850s, and the Harrisburg Car Co. produced railroad cars.

The Civil War saw Harrisburg’s industries producing material, mainly iron, for the war effort, including the Lochiel Rolling Mill, Paxton Rolling Mills (1866) and, in 1867, the Pennsylvania Steel Works, located just south of town. By the 1880s, steel and railroads had grown into massive industries in Harrisburg, but other, smaller industries were still present to meet the demands of a growing population.

Throughout much of the 20^th century, the steel and iron industries dominated Harrisburg’s landscape, and their owners and financiers contributed to the “City Beautiful” improvements within the city. The Great Depression took its toll on smaller industries, but the steel, railroads and large construction projects helped to lessen the burden somewhat.

In the early 1940s, Harrisburg, like other American cities, had ramped-up production for World War II. By 1950, Harrisburg was just shy of 90,000 people—its largest population to date. As the 1950s wore on, both the railroads and steel mills began to decline across America, and many of Harrisburg’s factories closed down in the 1960s and ‘70s.

Though many of the earlier industries are gone, Harrisburg’s steel heritage is still evident in the works at Steelton, now ArcelorMittal, and Harsco, which evolved from the Harrisburg Steel Corp. to become a global industrial services company, now based in Camp Hill.

Jason Wilson is an historian for the Capitol Preservation Committee.