As the City of Harrisburg grew northward during the latter part of the 19th Century, N. Front Street had not yet attained its distinction as a prime residential boulevard. The riverbank, which was littered with sewage and debris, and adjacent low lying swampy land, made an attempt at building a substantial residence there undesirable. Alternatively, a view of the Susquehanna River and mountains beyond beckoned the establishment of a fashionable neighborhood at the northern end of the City that could enjoy these amenities from a higher terrain. Thus emerged in the 2000 and 2100 Blocks of N. Third Street, starting in the late 1880's, a collection of Queen Anne-styled homes known as Cottage Ridge. Here, Harrisburg business leaders would establish their residences before N. Front Street and the riverfront were improved and developed after the establishment of the City Beautiful Movement at the beginning of the 20th century. Those to locate here included Harrisburg Mayor Maurice Eby, banker and wholesale paper merchant William Mayne Donaldson, Harrisburg Pipe and Pipe Bending Company co-founder David E. Tracy and Herman and William Miller, who would later found Miller Brothers & Baker Realtors, the developer of Harrisburg's Bellevue Park. As former truck farms became built-up with homes between N. Third and N. Front Streets just after the
turn of the century, Cottage Ridge's river view was obscured and trolleys on buy Third Street made the area less secluded. While several of the original homes have been lost to new development over the years, Cottage Ridge still retains character and stands as an important chapter in Harrisburg's Old Uptown residential development.
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