Pennsylvania State Capitol - History

History

William Penn formed the first government of the then-Province of Pennsylvania on October 28, 1682, in Chester, Pennsylvania. The government did not have a regular meeting place and often met in Quaker meeting houses or at private residences in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania's first statehouse, now known as Independence Hall, was built in Philadelphia starting in 1732 and was completed in 1753. With both the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the two predecessors of the United States Congress occupying Independence Hall from 1775 to 1783, the state legislature considered proposals for moving the seat of the state government. John Harris, Jr. offered to give 4 acres (2 ha) and 21 square perches (5,717 ft2; 531 m2) of land near the banks of the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania to the state, provided that it be eventually used as the site of the capital. Harris also laid out a city in 1785, near his plot of land, and named it in honor of his father. In 1799, the legislature voted to relocate the capital to Lancaster instead of Harrisburg, because of Lancaster's greater population. From 1799 to 1812, it was housed in the Old City Hall.