Downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

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Downtown Harrisburg, is the central core business and government center for the greater metropolitan area of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA.

Harrisburg's downtown Center City comprises the original 80-acre borough laid out in a grid pattern by John Harris in 1785. East-west streets are named and north-south streets are numbered. Market Street, running east-west, is the dividing point between north and south street designations. Sightseeing is probably best done on foot downtown and by car or bicycle elsewhere.^[1]

Harrisburg's Central Business District includes the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex and other state government offices, the Dauphin County courthouse and other county government offices, City of Harrisburg offices, and other, non-government related commercial retail and office development. A small shopping mall, Strawberry Square, is the most notable commercial development in the downtown area. Some residential development, both in apartment high-rises and in the upper floors of mixed commercial/residential use buildings, is also located in the downtown area.

Downtown is bordered in the northwest by the mixed commercial/residential use Capitol District, in the west by the Susquehanna River, in the southwest by the largely residential Shipoke neighborhood, in the south by Interstate 83, in the east by Amtrak and Norfolk Southern railroad lines, and in the north by Midtown Harrisburg, a mixed-use commercial and residential neigborhood. Forster Street is usually considered the boundary between Downtown and Midtown Harrisburg. City Island, located in the middle of the Susquehanna River directly west of downtown, is typically considered part of Downtown Harrisburg.