Take a good look at this impressive building in front of you-Harrisburg Technical High School, or as it’s sometimes known, Old City Hall. This place has worn many hats over the years, and probably a few mortarboards too! Imagine Harrisburg, over a hundred years ago-a city humming with industry, its factories churning out dreams as well as gears and gadgets. The city leaders were watching how schools in Philadelphia and D.C. were teaching kids to work with their hands-not just their heads. So, in 1905, Harrisburg decided it needed its own space for “manual training,” and expanded the old DeWitt School right here to house all sorts of heavy machinery. And yes, it was as noisy as you’d imagine-think machines thumping and kids learning trades that powered the city.
The old front of the school got retired (knocked down, to be honest), and in 1910, this sturdy four-story building rose up-designed by Harrisburg’s own Charles Howard Lloyd, using plenty of local brownstone, some from Hummelstown. Whether students were practicing carpentry or figuring out engines, there was always something buzzing.
But the story doesn’t end there! Sports fans, this place had a football team to be reckoned with. The Tech Maroons, under Coach Paul G. Smith, won 21 games in a row-undefeated seasons in 1918 and 1919! Johnny Kitzmiller was a star, racking up 21 points in a championship game. I guess you could say they really “schooled” the competition! Even when the city grew too big for one school and Harrisburg Technical shut its classroom doors in 1926, the building just shrugged and carried on. It became City Hall, and then, as the years marched on, got another makeover as apartments. Demand for chalkboards may change, but a beautiful brownstone building? Always in style.
