Harrisburg 's site along the Susquehanna River is thought to have been inhabited by Native Americans as early as 3000 BC . Known to the Native Americans as " Peixtin " , or " Paxtang " , the area was an important resting place and crossroads for Native American traders , as the trails leading from the Delaware to the Ohio rivers , and from the Potomac to the Upper Susquehanna intersected there . The first European contact with Native Americans in Pennsylvania was made by the Englishman , Captain John Smith , who journeyed from Virginia up the Susquehanna River in 1608 and visited with the Susquehanna tribe . In 1719 , John Harris , Sr. , an English trader , settled here and 14 years later secured grants of in this vicinity . In 1785 , John Harris , Jr. made plans to lay out a town on his father 's land , which he named Harrisburg . In the spring of 1785 , the town was formally surveyed by William Maclay , who was a son-in-law of John Harris , Sr . In 1791 , Harrisburg became incorporated , and in October 1812 it was named the Pennsylvania state capital , which it has remained ever since . The assembling here of the highly sectional Harrisburg Convention in 1827 ( signaling what may have been the birth of lobbying on a national scale ) led to the passage of the high protective-tariff bill of 1828 . In 1839 , Harrison and Tyler were nominated for President of the United States at the first national convention of the Whig Party of the United States , which was held in Harrisburg
national convention
1839 Whig National Convention
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania