Breeze Hill

At the corner of 21st Street and Bellevue Road stands Breeze Hill, the home of J. Horace McFarland (1859-1948), internationally recognized founder of the American Civic Association and the modern-day American Rose Society. On its original 2.4-acre pie-shaped lot, one of the most widely known gardens in America was established. From this home and land, McFarland renewed the work through which he brought national attention to Harrisburg's City Beautiful plan, advanced scenic preservation, and helped establish the National Park System. Here he also developed what became one of the world's test gardens for cultivating new rose varieties, extensively photographed through early color glass plate processing and published with seed catalogues and gardening books at his nearby Mount Pleasant Press at Mulberry and Crescent Streets. McFarland bought the property in 1909 from Louis Haehnlen, whose father Jacob had built the Italianate house in 1876 with a surrounding vineyard from which the Belle Vue Winery evolved. McFarland lived at Breeze Hill until his death, and afterward his daughter Helen lived there until her death in 1980, having subdivided much of the original tract for three homes in the late 1950s. Breeze Hill remains in its original form as a monument to McFarland's legacy in creating adjacent Bellevue Park and to Harrisburg's contribution as a leader in the Progressive Movement in the United States of the early 20th century.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania · United States