History · Harrisburg

Harrisburg’s history is
mostly unwritten

The public archives hold no old photos of Harrisburg. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

0old images & papers
1historic places
0recent photos

The story

from WikipediaRead it all ↗

Harrisburg was named for John W. Harris, who inherited the Model Farm on what was Thrall's Prairie, the first permanent settlement in the county. The town was laid out on the survey line of the prospective Louisiana and Missouri River Railroad which was later leased to Chicago and Alton Railroad. The line was graded and prepared, but was abandoned for a line farther north. The proposed line can be seen on the 1969 USGS topographic map of Harrisburg. According to Colonel W. F. Switzler, in 1882, there were a post office, three stores, a confectionary shop, a church, a mill, a blacksmith shop, and a public school building with the Masonic lodge above. That Harrisburg School building, constructed by the Freemasons, served as Harrisburg’s school and community center from 1878 to 1963. In 2013 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, but was shortly afterward demolished due…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Harrisburg, decade by decade

Before
2000
No old photos in the archives yetWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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National Register of Historic Places

1 historic place in Harrisburg

1 place in Harrisburg is on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

#153
In Missouriby listings · most towns there have none
1place listed1 building
0National Historic LandmarksNone here yet
1historic building protectedcounting each building in a district
2013first listedHarrisburg School-Ancient Landmark Masonic Lodge Number 356 A.F. & A.M.

Where they are

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Buildings

When they were listed

The Register began in 1966.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places (05/22/2026) · styles from the National Archives catalog · photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place

Then & now

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Stories next door

nearby towns’ history

From the National Register (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/18 · 2025-01-01