TheBurg

18 | theburg | 06.17 Y ou know the neighborhoods of Harrisburg: South Allison Hill, Midtown, Olde Uptown, Bellevue Park, Downtown, Riverside. Back up there. What the heck is Riverside? For those of us who live here, Riverside is our little secret. But since September marks the centennial of Riverside's annexation into the city of Harrisburg, maybe it's time to stake our claim as a distinct neighborhood with a unique quality of life. No, it's not "walkable" to coffee shops and cinemas, but there are trees and backyards, parking and birdsong, quick commutes to downtown and quick getaways to highways. First, to answer your question, Riverside is the last chunk of city land along the 2nd Street corridor. Imagine holding a Hershey chocolate bar in your hand and breaking off the far left squares. at's Riverside, from Division Street to just north of Vaughn Street (call it Italian Lake to the Jewish Community Center) and from Front Street to 7th Street (Susquehanna River to the railroad tracks). "Riverside, before it was annexed, was known as a hamlet," Howard Parker told me. "I've always wanted to live in a hamlet." NeW Age We were meeting at the Olde Uptown Little Amps (like I said, we got no coffee shops). Parker, a New Jersey native who moved east and has lived in Riverside since 1980, is a history buff and president of the Riverside United Neighbors community group. Archival records of that 1917 annexation, the year America entered the "Great War," show that change never happens in Harrisburg without controversy and the occasional threat of fisticuffs. Riverside was still its hamlet self, home to 500 or 600 people who'd been attracted to the Susquehanna Township development since its launch in 1905 with promises of "sewer, water, light and river view." "One car-fare takes you from Riverside to any part of city, Steelton, Paxtang, Reservoir, Progress, Penbrook and Rockville," pledged an ad from developer Lewis M. Neiffer. Harrisburg had "briefly flirted with an industrial period in the 1890s," said Historical Society of Dauphin County Librarian Ken Frew, but the ornate Beaux Arts Capitol built in 1906 ushered in a new age. "Once the (original) Capitol burned down, and they built a new one, the whole tenor of Harrisburg changed," said Frew. "It became a white-collar city." ose government workers found a bucolic escape in their Riverside homes. "ey were people who didn't want to be down in the city," said Frew. "ey were a little more independent. ey liked living up there, but they missed the city services." Parker confirmed that Riverside's street paving was "not really fantastic," and some residents were dissatisfied with schools that one resident of the day called "miserable." In September 1916, about 60 percent of Riverside homeowners petitioned for annexation by Harrisburg. is would be the city's 12th annexation of adjoining lands, but money concerns intervened. Would annexation mean that "outlay on the part of the city will be far greater than the revenues derived from the Riverside section," as the Harrisburg Daily Independent speculated? Sewer, lighting and fire hydrant upgrades would all cost money. Despite the costs, the Harrisburg Telegraph considered the deal's apparent collapse ill-advised. "It was assumed that at no distant day the suburb would be taken over by the city and now, when it comes knocking at our doors, having fulfilled the requirements of the municipality and being one of the most desirable residential districts in all the country roundabout, we turn our neighbor away," the Telegraph editorialized. "One of the most desirable residential districts in all the country roundabout"? My Riverside? Sweet. WOrdY bAttLe Back to 1917. e Telegraph accurately predicted eventual annexation. is being Harrisburg, a backroom deal or two might have given this creature life. e plan's sudden revival prompted a letter to the Telegraph editor signed "ONE OF THE EXPLOITED," insisting that the so-called majority clamoring for annexation was actually a minority poised to gain, possibly through the city's purchase of the hamlet's sewers. "ere always has been, and never so violently as at present, a strongly voiced antagonism to annexation . . .," complained "Exploited." "It is a question of searching for the individuals who aim to profit at the community's expense." By now, annexation was big news. City Council's 3-1 vote to approve annexation shared banner headline space with news from the Great War in the Aug. 27, 1917, Evening News: "Riverside is Added to Harrisburg; Italians Capture 90 Square Miles." Up By THe riverside A close-knit community celebrates 100 years as partof Harrisburg. | bY M. diANe MCCOrMiCK Riverside Baseball Team, 1921.

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