Midtown, Harrisburg facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Midtown
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Neighborhood of Harrisburg
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Midtown Harrisburg as seen from the corner of 3rd & Reily Streets
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| Country |  United States |
| State | Pennsylvania |
| County | Dauphin County |
| City | Harrisburg |
| Area code(s) | Area code 717 |
Midtown is a lively neighborhood in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. You can find it by its zip code, 17102. Midtown is bordered by Forster Street to the south and Maclay Street to the north. To the east is 7th Street, and to the west is the beautiful Susquehanna River.
A long time ago, a former Harrisburg Mayor named William K. Verbeke helped develop this area. Verbeke Street is even named after him! Midtown is special because it's home to the Pennsylvania Governor's Mansion. It also has the Broad Street Market, which is the oldest continuously running street market in the entire country.
A part of Midtown, between Reily and Kelker Streets, and 2nd and 3rd Streets, is called Engleton. The homes there were built in the 1890s by Benjamin Engle. They are known for their unique Queen Anne style. Midtown also contains several historic districts, like the Old Uptown, Old Midtown, and Old Fox Ridge districts. These areas are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, meaning they are important historical sites.
Olde Uptown is another part of Midtown with large homes built in the early 1900s. It's located between Kelker and Maclay streets. Many of these homes are being fixed up and improved today.
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Who Lives in Midtown?
Based on the 2010 census, about 7,628 people live in Midtown. The people living here come from many different backgrounds. About 53.4% are White, 36.6% are Black or African-American, and 2.3% are Asian. Also, 8.4% of the people are Hispanic or Latino. A large number of residents, about 13.6%, are young adults aged 25–29.
Learning and Fun in Midtown
Midtown has some great places for learning and fun!
Midtown Scholar Bookstore
The Midtown Scholar Bookstore and Famous Reading Cafe is a very large bookstore. It first opened in 2008 at 3rd and Reily streets and later grew to include the corner of Verbeke Street. It's considered one of the biggest used academic bookstores between Chicago and New York. You can find thousands of used books there, covering many different subjects.
Midtown Cinema
If you love movies, the Midtown Cinema is the place to go! It's Harrisburg's only movie theater that shows independent and foreign films. These are often unique movies you might not see everywhere else.
Harrisburg Area Community College
In 2007, Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) opened a new campus in Midtown. It was located at 3rd and Reilly streets in a renovated building. This campus offered many technical programs and could teach hundreds of students. However, HACC later decided to move these programs to its main campus to save money.
Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center
The Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center (H•MAC) is a cool spot for music and art. It's in an old building on Third Street that used to be a Police Athletic League. Now, it has two places for performances, along with a bar and a restaurant.
Midtown's Growth and Renewal
After a big flood from Hurricane Agnes in the 1970s and 1980s, many homes in Midtown, especially in the Old Uptown area, needed repairs. But since the 1990s, the neighborhood has been changing a lot. This process is called gentrification, which means that older areas are being improved and new people are moving in.
This change is happening because Midtown has many strong, older homes that are great for renovation. It's also very close to Downtown Harrisburg, which is also growing. Today, many historic homes in the northern and eastern parts of Midtown are being fixed up and made modern. Two new housing developments, Capitol Heights and Governor's Square, are adding hundreds of new homes to Midtown, showing how much the neighborhood is growing.
