Middletown
Lower Swatara Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
The oldest town in Dauphin County; laid out in 1755 by George Fisher, Quaker. It was an important port at the junction of Pennsylvania and Union Canals in the 19th century. Site of early flour, lumber, and iron industries.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Laid out in 1755 by the Quaker George Fisher, Middletown is the oldest town in Dauphin County, its name marking its spot midway between Lancaster and Carlisle. In the 19th century it grew into a busy river port at the junction of the Pennsylvania and Union Canals, where boats gathered before heading downriver. Early flour, lumber, and iron industries clustered around that traffic, giving the town its livelihood.
Why it matters
Middletown's rise traces the arc of frontier Pennsylvania, from a colonial-era town plat to a thriving canal-age port that carried the region's goods to market.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · George Fisher
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Union Canal
Middletown, PA · est. 1950
From 1828 to 1884, the Union Canal linked the Susquehanna River at Middletown to the Schuylkill at Reading, threading its way along the Swatara and Tulpehocken Creeks. Barges laden with coal and iron ore moved through its locks, feeding the furnaces and markets of a booming industrial economy. Here the old canal ran just west of the former mill race, a reminder of how water once powered both mills and commerce.
Union Canal
Derry Township, PA · est. 1948
First imagined by William Penn and surveyed as early as 1762, the Union Canal finally opened to traffic in 1828, connecting the Susquehanna River at Middletown with the Schuylkill at Reading. For a few decades its boats carried coal and goods across the Pennsylvania interior before the railroads rendered it obsolete. Abandoned in 1885, its overgrown remains can still be seen near Union Deposit, just to the north of the marker.
Market Square
Harrisburg, PA · est. 1953
From the town's founding in 1785 until 1889, this square was Harrisburg's beating commercial heart. Farmers rolled in from the surrounding countryside to sell produce from open market sheds and straight off their wagons at the curb, while inns crowded the edges of the square to serve travelers and traders. For over a century it was where the city fed itself and did its business.
Camel Back Bridge
Harrisburg, PA · est. 1953
In the young republic's canal-and-turnpike age, crossing the wide Susquehanna at Harrisburg meant building something ambitious. Theodore Burr, a master bridge engineer whose truss patents shaped early American spans, designed this long covered wooden bridge, raised between 1813 and 1817. Its humped profile earned it the affectionate nickname "Camel Back," and it carried traffic — rebuilt more than once — until floodwaters finally doomed it in 1902.