Introduction

City Beautiful was a strategic effort to improve Harrisburg. With every effective project, there are strong leaders. In the City Beautiful movement, these leaders each played significant and distinct roles.

This website, or rather online exhibit, will explore not only the actions of three key reformers in the City Beautiful movement but also the interactions between them. Today, when wanting to find out more about someone, one might look at their social media platforms, ask their friends about them, and see how they interact with other people. This exhibit seeks to do that same thing but in the setting of the early 20th century.

Mira Lloyd Dock, J. Horace McFarland, and Warren H. Manning all worked together on this huge project that transformed Harrisburg from a river and railroad stop to a mature and professional city. Each of these reformers was particularly interested in conservation and forestry and were thus connected in their passions. As this exhibit will show, they shared ideas, corrected each other, and were an encouragement to each other. While the short-term and long-term effects and benefits of the City Beautiful movement can be argued, this team was unarguably a model of respect and cooperation. As far as the sources and readings have shown, these three reformers helped each other become integral in the shaping of City Beautiful. From their combined efforts, multiple parks and green spaces were built, trees were planted, and the city of Harrisburg was transformed. This exhibit will take a chronological route to exploring the connections between these reformers and will touch on a few other reformers as well. This exhibit will use the letters, personal papers, and various other sources of Dock, McFarland, and Manning.

This exhibit is meant to be explored from left to right, starting with an overview of the reformers. The three tabs of chronological sections come next and then an About page finishes the exhibit, explaining the research process and sources.