Did You Know. . .

USS Harrisburg, named for the city, was a United States Navy ship serving from 1918-1919 at the end of the First World War. She was decommissioned in September 1919 and later scrapped at Genoa, Italy, in 1923.

During the first part of the 19th century, Harrisburg was a notable stopping place along the Underground Railroad, as escaped slaves would be transported across the Susquehanna River and were often fed and given supplies before heading north towards Canada.

The site along the Susquehanna River where Harrisburg is located is thought to have been inhabited by Native Americans as early as 3000 BC. Known to the Native Americans as “Peixtin,” or “Paxtang,” the area was an important resting place and crossroads for Native American traders.

Established in 1845 by the State Legislature, Harrisburg Cemetery is a prominent landmark in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, located at 13th and Liberty streets in the Allison Hill/East Harrisburg neighborhoods of the city. The cemetery is also the burial ground for American Revolutionary War soldiers. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

The Mask, a 1981 horror novel by Everett native Dean Koontz, is primarily set in Harrisburg.

Robert White, was one of the Funk Brothers that played on the Motown hits in the 1960s was born here

Charles Dickens wrote of Harrisburg in his American Notes, when he visited the city after crossing the Old Camelback Bridge in 1842.

James Boyd, a resident of Front Street, wrote a novel about the city in 1935, Roll River.

John O’Hara, a native of Pottsville, lived in Harrisburg briefly to write his novel about the city, A Rage to Live, published in 1949. Harrisburg disguised as Fort Penn, appears also in other O’Hara novels.

Harrisburg, Texas was founded in 1825 on the eastern shore of the Buffalo Bayou in present-day Harris County, on land belonging to John Richardson Harris. Harris named the town both after himself and after Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which had been named for his grandfather. In 1926, Harrisburg, Texas was annexed into the city of Houston.

The American Soap Opera One Life to Live utilized pictures of the Harrisburg skyline and other attractions in its opening titles from 1984-1991.

source: Wikipedia