The First Greeks of Harrisburg

The Digital Harrisburg Working Group has made major strides in the last six weeks in entering, publicizing, and standardizing data related to the City Social Project. We have had major success especially in our ability to visualize data in GIS. At some point soon, we’ll give a general update of all the recent activities related to the Digital Harrisburg Initiative. Today, however, I want to show a few of the things we can do with this data by considering the history of the earliest Greek inhabitants of Harrisburg at the turn of the 20th century. March 25th is, after all, both the Feast of the Annunciation and Greek Independence Day.

One can find some information about the early Greek community of Harrisburg at the webpage of the Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral in Camp Hill, but relatively little else online. The federal census data offers a window into these communities.

In 1900, there was only a single household of Greeks living in the city, the Jabeles brothers. John, Peter, and Joseph had arrived in the U.S. one after another every other year since 1889. It was the middle boy, Peter, who came first, according to the immigration year listed on the census; he was only 12 years old when he arrived in the U.S. The oldest brother, John, the “head” of the household, arrived in the U.S. as as a young 16 year old and was 25 years old in the 1900 census. The youngest brother, Joseph, had immigrated most recently as a 19 year old. What we don’t know is where these brothers were living before they came to Harrisburg: with one of their parents, perhaps, or a more distant relative on the east coast. By the time they were in their early 20s, however, they had found a property to rent together at 433 State Street in the Old Eighth Ward, and were engaged in the candy making business (on which, see Stephanie Patterson Gilbert’s article).

The following decade witnessed an explosive growth of the Greek population in Harrisburg. The three young brothers who rented a place in the eighth ward had disappeared, but in their place was a little community of 47 Greeks dwelling in 21 different properties at the intersection of the third, eighth, and ninth wards within a quarter mile radius of one another (even the outlying properties were no more than a mile from one other). These Greek immigrants were almost entirely male (44 of 47), and they were generally young – ranging from 14 to 50, and on average, 28 years old. They had arrived in the US as early as 1882, but most had come since the 1890s. A third were married, but most of them were not living with their spouses at the time. Half of them were “lodgers”.

It will be interesting to extend this data into successive decades and round out the picture with the full set of census data, including occupations, proficiencies in English, and property values. Other kinds of historical records like newspapers and photos will add some an entirely different dimension to the picture we find in the census.

Greeks living in Harrisburg, 1910

Ward	Street Address	Relation	LastName	FirstName	Sex	Age	Immigration
3	12 Nthird Street	Head	Annastos	Peter J	Male	23	1903
3	12 Nthird Street	Lodger	Anestus	George	Male	45	1907
3	12 Nthird Street	Lodger	Calos	Nicholas	Male	15	1907
3	12 Nthird Street	Lodger	Dollas	Nicholas	Male	14	1907
3	311 Market Street	Lodger	Tongaris	Peter	Male	23	1904
3	317 Market Street	Head	Mackalaris	Willian	Male	29	1904
3	317 Market Street	Lodger	Elispoulos	George	Male	17	1909
3	317 Market Street	Lodger	Gekas	William	Male	18	1908
3	317 Market Street	Lodger	Jianis	Stephen	Male	19	1910
3	317 Market Street	Lodger	Mpoutselis	John	Male	19	1906
3	321 Market Street	Lodger	Lingerin	Nicholas	Male	30	1901
4	205 Barbara Avenue	Head	Javaler	George	Male	34	1900
4	205 Barbara Avenue	Lodger	Colivirs	John	Male	45	1908
4	205 Barbara Avenue	Lodger	Maskalevis	William	Male	20	1903
4	205 Barbara Avenue	Servant	Colivirs	Marie	Female	49	1908
4	205 Barbara Avenue	Wife	Javaler	Dena	Female	24	1900
4	227 Pine Street	Lodger	Roler	Michael	Male	22	1908
5	923 Capitol Street	Head	Limgersese	Peter	Male	28	1901
5	923 Capitol Street	Hired Man	Brown	James	Male	30	1906
5	923 Capitol Street	Hired Man	Nichols	Gustavis	Male	32	1903
5	1109.5 Montgomery Street	Wife	Bach	Hilda A	Female	33	1882
6	1334 Second Street	Head	Coloviras	George J	Male	27	1898
7	945 Seventh Street	Head	Julius	John	Male	38	1899
7	945 Seventh Street	Lodger	Gistrias	Stephen	Male	28	1903
7	945 Seventh Street	Lodger	Julius	Peter	Male	45	1903
7	945 Seventh Street	Lodger	Korntres	William	Male	50	1906
7	945 Seventh Street	Lodger	Paronnio	Andre	Male	45	1899
8	433 State Street	Head	Samples	John	Male	20	1907
8	433 State Street	Partner	Rehes	James	Male	22	1907
8	520 State Street	Head	Robles	Joseph	Male	33	1893
9	9 Grace Street	Head	Stratagos	Edward	Male	24	1903
9	9 Grace Street	Lodger	Annenias	George	Male	19	1904
9	9 Grace Street	Lodger	Dematra	Christian	Male	27	1909
9	9 Grace Street	Lodger	Proferres	George	Male	24	1909
9	9 Grace Street	Lodger	Rollus	Ross	Male	16	1904
9	11 Nfourth Street	Lodger	Karagiouis	James	Male	40
9	410 Market Street	Brother	Bowrket	Arthur G	Male	50	1900
9	410 Market Street	Head	George	Athens	Male	25	1902
9	422 Market Street	Lodger	Diamond	George S	Male	26	1898
9	422 Market Street	Lodger	Giovanius	George	Male	24	1900
9	422 Market Street	Lodger	Kelley	Nicholas	Male	23	1902
9	504 Market Street	Head	Kreiss	Asalen	Male	22	1909
9	520 Market Street	Lodger	Bolins	Abraham	Male	25	1905
9	520 Market Street	Lodger	Brown	Frank	Male	34	1890
9	1024 Market Street	Head	Leventis	Peter	Male	25	1904
9	1209 Derry Street	Lodger	Giovenco	William	Male	23	1903
13	1838 Derry Street	Head	Anust	Stephen	Male