Harrisburg, Pennsylvania


 

Harrisburg
Place in the United States
Location of Harrisburg in Pennsylvania
Location of Pennsylvania in the US
Location
County Dauphin County
Type of place City
State Pennsylvania
Coordinates 40° 16′ N, 76° 53′ WL
General
Surface 30.73 km²
– country 21.03 km²
– water 9.70 km²
Inhabitants
(2006)
47,164
(2243 inhabitant/km²)
Height 98 m
Politics
Mayor Wanda Williams (D)
Other
ZIP code(s) 17101-17113, 17120-17130, 17140, 17177
FIPS code 32800
Website harrisburgpa.gov

According to Mcat-test-centers, Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania, a state in the United States of America. It is also the county seat of Dauphin County. Located on the Susquehanna River, the city is 165 kilometers from Philadelphia and had a population of 48,950 in 2000.

History

Harrisburg from the Susquehanna

In 1719, English merchant John Harris settled in the area where his son started a ferry across the Susquehanna in 1753. The location was long known as Harris’s Ferry. In 1785, the site was expanded into a village, first called Harrisburg but renamed Louisburg in 1786 in honor of King Louis XVI of France. In 1791 the name Harrisburg was restored and the city became the capital of Pennsylvania in 1812.

On March 28, 1979, a failure occurred at the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant near Harrisburg, which nearly resulted in a nuclear disaster.

Traffic and Transport

Road traffic

The city is served by Interstate highways I-76 (east), I-78, I-81, I-83, and I-283.

Air traffic

Harrisburg International Airport is located 15 kilometers from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s third largest airport.

Public Transport

The Capital Area Transit System provides public transportation for Harrisburg and the surrounding area. In addition to 36 “normal” bus routes, the CAT also operates 2 bus lines on the campus of Shippensburg University (near Shippensburg).

Harrisburg train station is on the “Pennsylvanian Route” (New York – Philadelphia – Harrisburg – Altoona – Pittsburgh) and the “Keystone Route” (New York – Philadelphia – Harrisburg).

Nearby places

The figure below shows nearby places within a 4 km radius of Harrisburg.

Harrisburg

  • Lemoyne (3km)
  • Paxtang (4 km)
  • Penbrook (3 km)
  • Progress (4km)
  • Wormleysburg (3 km)

Born

  • Jean Shiley (1911-1998), high jumper
  • Barney Ewell (1918-1996), athlete
  • Bobby Troup (1918–1999), actor, pianist and songwriter
  • Newt Gingrich (1943), Republican politician and former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
  • Glenn Branca (1948-2018), guitarist and composer
  • Barry Lynn (1948), pastor and activist
  • Dan Hartman (1950-1994), singer and composer
  • Eric Martsolf (1971), actor
  • Ryan Whiting (1986), athlete

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 2

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