Walkabout in Middletown

It is not often that I get the opportunity to explore Middletown by foot. We are usually hurrying to catch a train and have just enough time for a cup of coffee or a quick bite to eat; or, on the way home, we have a late supper before driving the rest of the way home. But on this crisp day in November, I had a little time to have lunch and a quick walk around town before catching the train to Philadelphia.

An old SEPTA car in the Middletown &
Hummelstown Railroad museum

My perambulation took me down Union Street to Mill Street, which is where the Amtrak station is located. The building at the corner of Union and Mill has a maker that records the high-water marks of the 1904 and 1972 floods of Swatara Creek. A single railroad line running down the middle of Brown Street leads to a small yard that is now the home of the Middletown & Hummelstown Railroad, a museum and excursion railroad. The yard contains many railcars, many of which are in a dilapidated state. Included are several SEPTA cars that look as if there is more rust than metal these days.

Middletown is a particularly old town, the oldest in Dauphin County.  The churches of Middletown are fascinating and the Elks Theatre and Brownstone Café are long-standing institutions in town. Yet, most of focus on buildings and railroads belies the historical significance of this small town in central Pennsylvania.

Middletown Public Library, which was the home of Liberty
Steam Company (fire department)

I stopped in the local library to learn more about local history. The town was on the cusp of greatness, which is little remembered today. During the debates in the House of Representatives about where to locate the national capital in 1789, Representative Goodhue introduced a resolution proposing: “that the permanent seat of Government of the United States ought to be at some convenient place on the east bank of the Susquehanna river, in the State of Pennsylvania, &c.” Later, Mr. Heister proposed that after the words “Susquehanna river” the phrase “between Harrisburg and Middletown inclusive” should be included. C.H. Hutchinson, in his history of Middletown, reports that although members of the House were generally favorable to the amendment, it was defeated. The resolution was taken up by the Senate where all references to the Susquehanna River were struck in favor of establishing the seat of government as Germantown, Pennsylvania. Ultimately sectional differences led to a compromise of placing the capitol on the banks of the Potomac, rather than the Susquehanna.