The Old Eighth Ward: The Vanished Neighborhood of the Pennsylvania State Capitol

The Wagner Family Bakery

Bakeries, Confectioneries, and Immigrant Life in Harrisburg

Bakeries and confectioneries came and went throughout the Old Eighth Ward’s history, but a few served the people for decades. Among the longest-lasting was the bakery owned by the German immigrant Frederick Wagner.
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Harrisburg's Role in the Underground Railroad

The Heart of the Central Route

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania connected southern states and western cities to larger hubs along the Underground Route railroad, making it the heart of the central route. Anti-slavery committees, abolitionists, and advocacy groups created pathways, safehouses, and resources for freedom seekers to travel northward towards independence.
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Douglass at the Dauphin County Courthouse

Abolition and Violence in the State Capital

In 1847, Frederick Douglass traveled to Harrisburg. The anti-slavery community supported his visit, but his work in the city was overshadowed by a racist mob that attacked him during his speech. Reports of the incident made their way into newspapers across the country, illustrating to many, including Douglass, the North’s role in perpetuating slavery and racism in the United States.
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The US Colored Troops Grand Review

Harrisburg Welcomes Home the Black Veterans of the Civil War

When Civil War soldiers were recognized in a Grand Review march in Washington, DC, the United States Colored Troops (USCT) were excluded. The city of Harrisburg held its own Grand Review march on November 14, 1865, to recognize the struggle and participation of the Black soldiers in their fight for freedom.
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Harrisburg's African Methodist Episcopal Churches

The Road to Emancipation

During the nineteenth century, the African American churches of Harrisburg were much more than houses of worship; they were agents of enfranchisement and liberation.
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The Lincoln Street School

Educational Inequity and Reform during the Nineteenth Century

The Lincoln School was one of several institutions founded in the 1860s and 1870s to address the lack of quality education opportunities for Black students in Harrisburg. It stood as a testament to the strides toward educational reform in the late nineteenth century and the work left to be done.
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Black Politics and City Beautiful

Dr. William H.C. Jones and the Eighth Ward

During a time when African American voices were rarely heard, Dr. Jones convinced Black residents of Harrisburg to offer their needed support to the City Beautiful movement.
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The Demolition of the Old Eighth Ward

The Lost Neighborhood in the Shadow of the Pennsylvania Capitol

In the second decade of the 20th century, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania demolished hundreds of homes, businesses, churches, and synagogues to create the green space and state government buildings east of the State Capitol. The demolition of the Eighth Ward displaced over a thousand residents and ended the life of one of Harrisburg's oldest and most diverse neighborhoods.
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The Phyllis Wheatley YWCA

Black Women Activists of Twentieth-Century Harrisburg

The Young Women’s Christian Association, or YWCA, has been active in Harrisburg since 1894. The organization offered language and dance classes, as well as affordable housing, to local (white) women. In 1920, the Phyllis Wheatley branch of the YWCA was opened in Harrisburg. Named after the famous African American poet, the Phyllis Wheatley branch was dedicated specifically to addressing the needs…
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Maude Coleman and the Case Against Harrisburg's Second Capitol Extension

The Defense of the Seventh Ward

In 1950, the prominent Maude Coleman, Interracial Consultant for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, wrote a letter to Governor James Henderson Duff advocating for the rights of Black homeowners of the Seventh Ward. In it, Coleman continued her fight to combat the state's seizure of property in her neighborhood.
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K. Leroy Irvis vs. the Moose Lodge

A Legal Battle against Segregation in Harrisburg

Five years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, an act that outlawed racial segregation and discrimination across the country, an African American legislator was denied service at a restaurant on the banks of the Susquehanna River. This account, an all too common one in the twentieth century, is the story of K. Leroy Irvis, a native Pittsburgher, once a member of the Pennsylvania…
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A Gathering at the Crossroads

The Story of the Commonwealth Monument

In 2020, as communities around the nation took down monuments symbolizing the legacies of American slavery, Harrisburg residents set up a monument to African American history and the power of the vote.
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