Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-01-12
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People of Harrisburg. accustomed
all of their lives or throughout their
residence here to the long stretch OF
River Front. which the city has i'm
proved, have little idea of the admira-
ton "The Front Steps of Harrisburg
awakes in the visitors to the States
| capital city. The wonder of folks who
came here a dozen years ago was that
the municipality took so little interest
In a river front unspoiled by traffic
and unencroached upon by building
except for a distance of a few blocks.
1t used to be called the Bank" In
those days and its improvement de-
| pended upon the generosity of resi-
dents of Front street, some of whom
went to considerable pains to save the
grass, but whose ability, because of the
cfty's ownership of the slope, did not
permit them to take means to change
1t from dumping place for ashes. old
| building material and rubbish, to an
embankment worthy the name, and to
4 make the earth binding and attractive
shrubbery have it for its home instead
of the tin can and the section OF
broken stovep1pe. Fortunately the city
| awakened to it's opportunity a decade
| ago and now we have something that
is almost unequaled in this country and
which, If the city was little wealthier,
could be made to vie with famed river
banks In the Old World.
1t is not necessary to set down here
| the beauties of the Bruhl Terrace at
Dresden, the combination Of Nsplanade
and commercial wharves of Dussel-
dorf, and Rhine cities where they
make utility go hand in hand with the
aesthetic, the treatment of river banks
by Glasgow, Vienna or any other cities,
or to refer to the manner in which
Hamburg mde a wonderful pleasure
time held It's tremendous tonnage of
| commerce. There is one other city in
pennsylvania that has preserved its
water front unspoiled, and that is
Wilkes Barre but it has nothing like
the three miles that is possessed by
this city. Easton is perched up on the
Delaware. but it has not been able to
afford the means to park the bank,
and as for Williamsport, Reading, AL
| lentown, Johnstown and some of the
cities in the northwestern section, they
have been too busy using their streams
to clear away the structures along the
banks and make parks out of them.
When you come to think of it, the cap
itals of two neighboring States, Tren-
ton and Albany, are shining exam
Piles Of how not to make water front
age attractive. People from those
cities have within the last few months
strolled in delight along THE Front
| Steps of Harrisburg" and made re-
marks that showed they thought about
| 1T in connection with the Balcony of
Europe" and the pleasant frontages of
the cities on the Elbe, the Rhine and
the Thames.
When YOU think what the River
Front really is, and how people swarm
along It in summer, it seems all the
more remarkable that the city has not
lavished hundreds of thousands of dol
| lars on it and not cleared out the
houses along the bank between Herr
and Calder streets. Just think of the
beauty of the river here and that there
is q driveway, improved with the very
best pavement, from Vine street to the
Rockville bridge, six miles Of the fin
est roadway in the country. And con-
Meeting with the street at Vine there
are highways, which, if indifferently
improved, nevertheless, link the river
side with Cameron street, paved from
State to the city line, with the stretch
| of highway between Harrisburg and
Steelton, also improved, and then the
long stretch of improved Front street
| in Steelton. You can go almost from
Highspire to Rockville on paved road
way. Added to this is the riverside
park system, which the city has de-
veloped so well and which it will ulti-
| mately extend beside the waters of the
Susquehanna to the First Mountain. 1t
is small wonder that "The Front Steps
of Harrisburg" have aroused the COM
pliments of its visitors.
Speaking of the river front, one of
the best known men in politics in
Pennsylvania, whose name is almost q
household word, said on q recent visit
to the city: 81 do not know of any
city so fortunate in it's river front and
the manner in which the authorities
have taken trouble to preserve and
beautify it is most commendable.
| never lose the opportunity to take a
walk along the riverside when I come
to Harrisburg and / enjoy that view
up the river from your water works
| immensely"
No less a traveller than Colonel
Roosevelt once told Harrisburger
that he thought the Susquehanna at
Harrisburg thing of beauty and he
always closed his book when he hap
pened to be passing the river in this
vicinity. He remarked while here to
help dedicate the Capitol that the city
was lucky not to have its river front
| full of wharves. When william H.
Taft was here to address the railroad
men couple of years ago he said
while guest at the home of the late
Congressman M. E. Olmsted that a
prettier situation for a city and a
finer opportunity for an ornate river
front he had never seen. Woodrow
! Wilson, when here years ago to ad-
dress Princeton alumni and during his
visit in 1911 for the organization of
| the Democratic Federation of Clubs,
took walks along the river front,
which he much admired.
OH. YOU GERMS!
| BY Wing Dinger
From those watchful germ detectives,
| There should soon be some relief.
| Now they say there's gravest danger