City on the Hill - Harrisburg State Hospital

City on the Hill - Harrisburg State Hospital Founded on April 14, 1845, the hospital was originally known as the Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital and Union Asylum for the Insane.

Harrisburg State Hospital
Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital

City on the Hill is a website and page dedicated to Pennsylvania's first public facility to house and care for the mentally ill. Later the name was shortened to just Pennsylvania State Lunatic Hospital, and eventually it was changed again to Harrisburg State Hospital. The hospital served 12 surrounding counties, which at the time of it's founding, had a population of 926,452 in an area of 8,000 square miles. The facility provided over 150 years of service to Pennsylvania's mentally ill, until January of 2006, when it was closed.

We are running out of buildings. 😟
09/07/2025

We are running out of buildings. 😟

I still have a lot of videos in the works, including full building walk-throughs of buildings that are now gone. Things ...
09/07/2025

I still have a lot of videos in the works, including full building walk-throughs of buildings that are now gone. Things are going to start getting even more emotional around here. This video was taken in December 2024 during my second to last visit before the fence went up.

Come along with me as I walk around the campus and inside the buildings during a beautiful snow shower. Video is from December 2024.My Harrisburg State Hospi...

09/07/2025

An early morning visit to the Laundry Building in December 2024 to catch the sunrise.

09/06/2025

Demolition Progress as of September 1 2025The Central Kitchen has been mostly demolished.They are preparing to remove the cupolas from the Green Building.The...

More things that no one can afford.
09/02/2025

More things that no one can afford.

Demolition Update as of Sept 1, 2025.The Central Kitchen has been mostly demolished.They are preparing to remove the cup...
09/01/2025

Demolition Update as of Sept 1, 2025.
The Central Kitchen has been mostly demolished.
They are preparing to remove the cupolas from the Green Building.
The tops of the cupolas on Cedarcrest have been removed.
Interior gutting is still going on in Cedarcrest, Eaton, and Willow Oak.
I have contacted both Olde Good Thing and the demo contractor about making bricks available to the public.

09/01/2025

The old kitchen vent knows.

Olde Good Things posting more HSH stuff. They seem to asking for interest before they actually save them?? It will only ...
08/28/2025

Olde Good Things posting more HSH stuff. They seem to asking for interest before they actually save them?? It will only cost you half a million bucks...

Demolition progress as of 8/24/2025Time for the weekly bad news update...Shamrock Hall is gone. I'm pretty sure that the...
08/24/2025

Demolition progress as of 8/24/2025
Time for the weekly bad news update...
Shamrock Hall is gone. I'm pretty sure that the cupolas were not saved. It looks like Green Building is next. I'm very concerned that the cupolas on Green are not going to be removed and saved. When Beechmont was at this point, they had cut away the roof around the cupolas in preparation to remove them, and they did the same for Anderson Hall. They did not do it for Shamrock, and they have not done it for Green. I really, really hope that I'm wrong, but I have a bad feeling the cupolas on Green are going down with the building.
Interior gutting continues on Cedarcrest, Willow Oak, and Eaton. Looks like they are doing something to the roof of the Married Employee building, and they are using building rubble to make a road behind the nurse home. Hilltop and Hillcrest still appear to be untouched.

08/24/2025
A friend of mine went to Olde Good Things today and took lots of photos of HSH stuff.
08/24/2025

A friend of mine went to Olde Good Things today and took lots of photos of HSH stuff.

More HSH stuff for sale at Olde Good Things . Look at those absolutely ridiculous prices!
08/22/2025

More HSH stuff for sale at Olde Good Things . Look at those absolutely ridiculous prices!

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Harrisburg, PA

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasp94/albums, https://amzn.to/3W5Z9Sj

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