City on the Hill - Harrisburg State Hospital

11/09/2025

Demolition and stabilization progress as of Nov 9, 2025.

Not too much had changed since last weekend. A little bit more of Willow Oak has been demolished. Interior work is still happening in Hilltop and Hillcrest.

The campus is closed to the public and any trespassing will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Capital Police and PA State Police are now involved and patrolling the grounds.

11/08/2025

Male attendants - May 6, 1932 - Photo courtesy of Patricia Taylor

11/07/2025

Feb 16, 1841 - Daily Pennsylvania Telegraph and Legislative Register
A small write-up about the creation of Harrisburg State Hospital.

11/03/2025

The Married Employee home is gone. Groundwork is still ongoing where the kitchen and Cedarcrest were. Willow Oak demolition has started. Eaton is waiting to ...

11/03/2025

Demolition and stabilization progress as of Nov 2, 2025.

The Married Employee home is gone. Groundwork is still ongoing where the kitchen and Cedarcrest were. Willow Oak demolition has started. Eaton is waiting to be demolished once Willow Oak is done. Interior work is still under way in Hilltop and Hillcrest. A large solar panel array has been installed to power the chapel.

The campus is closed to the public and any trespassing will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Capital Police and PA State Police are now involved and patrolling the grounds.

10/30/2025

A couple of years ago, I was contacted by the DHS about a little project that they want to do in their conference rooms in one of the downtown buildings. My photos of several HSH buildings now hang in the conference rooms. With almost all the former hospital buildings now gone, it is really great to see this. It will help keep the memory of HSH alive.

10/28/2025

Who remembers the pull lever cigarette machines?

10/26/2025

Not much to report this week. Married employees home is gone but nothing else has changed. I assume they will start demo on Willow Oak this week.

10/25/2025

10/23/2025

A snippet from the Harrisburg Telegraph Newspaper, 1938.

10/21/2025

When the hospital closed in 2006 and before the DGS renovated it, the chapel was a nice shade of classic institutional minty green. You can see all the speakers on the walls that they removed and the exhaust stack on the projector booth for the carbon-arc projectors.

10/19/2025

https://youtu.be/DL04D8ieIVY

Demolition and stabilization progress as of Oct 19, 2025.The Married Employee Home is partially demolished. Eaton is waiting to be demolished. Interior work ...