CITY PARKS SYSTEM

A Heritage of Urban Greening

At the turn of the 18th Century, spurred by the design of New York’s Central Park by the Frederick Olmstead, a nationwide conservancy effort began. In Harrisburg that movement was spearheaded by City natives J. Horace McFarland and Mira Lloyd Dock, who established Harrisburg’s League of Municipal Improvements. In 1901, their visionary efforts, collectively known and "The City Beautiful Movement", established Harrisburg’s first official park system and saw to its expansion over the next decade to include Riverfront Park, Reservoir Park, City Island and what is today known as the Capital Area Greenbelt. Ensuing decades would realize the establishment of Italian Lake Park, the 7th and Radnor Street Park and Sunshine Park, today known as William C. Morrison Park.

This dynamic municipal improvement effort was birthed in fan de siècle society’s belief that enhancing citizen quality of life was just as important as ensuring good wages and safe working conditions. With the support of Harrisburg’s top civic, political and professional leaders, Harrisburg’s park system quickly became a magnet for residents and visitors alike. Sunday strolls in Riverfront Park became an after-church ritual for the region’s middle and upper classes, and thousands more thrilled to the athletic feats of such greats as Jim Thorpe, Babe Ruth, and Satchel Paige at Island Park’s professional baseball stadium.

Since that time Harrisburg’s Park System has gone through many transformations. By the early 1980s, Harrisburg’s once grand park system had become symbolic of the blighted city around it. Harrisburg was near bankruptcy and been declared the second most distressed city in the nation. The City’s parks were in a terrible state of repair and were widely misused for criminal activity. The 1982 election of reformist Mayor Stephen R. Reed changed everything for the City, especially the suffering parks system. Mayor Reed, reflecting back to the earlier motivations of "The City Beautiful Movement," knew that if Harrisburg was going to again become a viable place to live, work and play, its entertainment and recreational opportunities had to become something in which every resident could take pride and every visitor admire. Consequently, the Mayor’s Parks Improvement Program was born and saw the investment of more than $29 million since 1984, a proverbial phoenix of greenery rising from the ashes of decades of neglect.

Today the City of Harrisburg Parks System is one of the finest in the Nation attracting more than 2.5 million people to the festivals, concerts and events that are routinely scheduled every year. Harrisburg’s park system encompasses 450 acres at 27 existing recreational sites and one new proposed playground with the Capital Area Greenbelt snaking through an additional 1,200 acres of City and suburban green space.