717 Area Code 🌍☎️

Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania and the ninth-most populous city in the state, with 50,099 residents in 2020, while its metropolitan area ranks fourth in Pennsylvania with 615,000 people. Located 83 miles southwest of Allentown and 107 miles northwest of Philadelphia on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, Harrisburg was founded in 1785 by John Harris Jr. and became the state capital in October 1812. The city developed into one of the Northeastern United States' most industrialized centers during the 19th century through the Pennsylvania Canal and Railroad, though it experienced population decline between 1950 and 2000 before stabilizing due to high concentrations of state and federal government agencies. Harrisburg hosts two major annual events: the Pennsylvania Farm Show, the largest indoor agriculture exposition in the U.S. since 1917, and the Great American Outdoor Show, the world's largest of its kind. The city is also historically significant for the Harrisburg Convention of 1827 and the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident in nearby Middletown. Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the eighth-most populous city in Pennsylvania with 58,039 residents at the 2020 census, is located 59 miles southwest of Allentown and 61 miles west of Philadelphia as the county seat of Lancaster County and hub of Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Settled in the 1720s as one of the oldest inland cities in the United States and originally called Hickory Town, Lancaster served as the temporary capital of the United States on September 27, 1777, and as Pennsylvania's capital from 1799 to 1812 before the seat moved to Harrisburg. The city is historically significant for hosting an important 1744 colonial treaty between the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and three provinces, with the text published by Benjamin Franklin, and for connecting to the 1795 Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, the first long-distance paved road in the United States. Lancaster's economy is anchored by healthcare, tourism, public administration, manufacturing, and professional services, while the metropolitan area spans 552,984 residents and features notable landmarks including Wheatland, the estate of President James Buchanan, and the Fulton Opera House named after steamboat inventor Robert Fulton. From 1800 to 1900, Lancaster ranked among the nation's top 100 most populous urban areas and developed into a significant iron-foundry center following the American Revolutionary War. York, Pennsylvania, located in South Central Pennsylvania as the county seat of York County, had a population of 44,800 in the 2020 census, making it the tenth-most populous city in Pennsylvania with a metropolitan area population of 456,449. Founded in 1741 by settlers from the Philadelphia region, York served as the temporary base for the Continental Congress from September 1777 to June 1778, where the Articles of Confederation were drafted and adopted, leading the city to style itself as the first capital of the United States. During the American Civil War, York became the largest Northern town occupied by Confederate forces when Major General Jubal Anderson Early's division spent June 28-30, 1863 there, collecting $28,000 in tribute and supplies before departing. The city transformed from a regional agricultural center during the Postbellum era into an important industrial hub, with dominant industries including steam engines, railroad manufacturing, and papermaking, while also producing Pullman automobiles from 1905 to 1917. York features distinctive architecture spanning from colonial-era buildings to gothic churches and remains the largest city in the York-Hanover metropolitan area within the Susquehanna Valley region.