Harrisburg approved as Pennsylvania capital

Background. John Harris, Jr. made plans in 1785 to lay out a town on his father's land, naming it Harrisburg. That spring the town was formally surveyed by William Maclay, a son-in-law of John Harris, Sr. The site sat on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, a location settled as a trading post in 1719 that was important to westward expansion past the Blue Mountain range.

Capital Designation. In October 1812 Harrisburg was named the Pennsylvania state capital, a status it has retained since. The passages attribute the legislature's selection of the small town partly to its strategic location. The Pennsylvania General Assembly met in the old Dauphin County Court House until December 1821, when the Federal-style Hills Capitol was built on a four-acre hilltop land grant set aside for a seat of state government.

Legacy Claim Correction. The legacy record asserts that Harrisburg was approved as capital by a vote of 33 to 29 on March 3, 1787. No supplied passage supports any vote, tally, or 1787 approval; the only dated capital designation given is October 1812. The claim is therefore corrected to the sourced 1812 designation, with the vote count and 1787 date treated as unsupported.