Eastern State Street

Eastern State Street. . , Harrisburg's distinction of having beautiful vistas and panoramas is particularly evident through the grand eastern approach to the downtown on State Street. The thoroughfare's broad descent from the city line at Reservoir Park to the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Bridge, terminating with the central vista of the State Capitol dome, heralds the entrance to a major state capital city similar in spirit and design to that of Washington D.C.'s East Capitol Street. Eastern State Street did not develop until the late 1890's, somewhat after the older neighborhoods of Allison Hill to the south. Prior to that time, access to the east was afforded by the old Jonestown Road, which ran from Market Street traversing the hill bluff to Walnut Street and thence to points beyond. Not until the first State Street Bridge was constructed over a former grade crossing at a myriad of railroad tracks in 1872 and the popularity of Reservoir Park took hold in the late 1880's, did State Street become viable as a transportation and residential boulevard. In 1903, the city created a series of grass islands with flowerbeds down the center of the thoroughfare through which ran trolleys linking the Park to downtown. Rows of residential duplexes would rise with robust features of Romanesque and Mediterranean architecture. The completion of the Second Renaissance Revival-styled Lincoln Elementary School in 1904 added further architectural distinction to what was becoming a premier residential area. Today, the installation of antique-styled boulevard lights throughout the street's course, active housing restoration, the renovation of the Lincoln School and the enhancement of Reservoir Park all contribute to the corridor's destined revitalization., [Captions:] , 1909 postcard view looking west on State Street from 18th Street. Lincoln Elementary School is at left center., Circa. 1905 view toward the recently completed Lincoln Elmentary School.