Third and Market Streets

On the southeast corner was the Red Lion Tavern, also known as the Golden Lion, a two story log and rough cast building. Rough cast, as described by architectural historian Ken Frew, was a plaster mix of pebbles and oyster shells, applied over old log construction in hope of prolonging the life of the structure. The northeast corner was occupied by the Golden Cross Keys Inn, and the northwest corner held the Sign of the Ship tavern.

This intersection was also located midway between the borough's important African American neighborhoods. Judy's Town was two blocks to the south along Third Street, while the entrance to the Strawberry Alley boarding houses were one-half block north along Third Street. The Zeke Carter block was one block east along Market Street, at least until fire consumed the row of wooden boarding houses in October 1838.

The house of George and Jane Chester was one-half block east, on the south side of Market Street, just across Dewberry Alley. The property later became known as the Hershey House, and the site is now part of the Villa Store/333 Market Street building.

On a Saturday night in September 1849, Third and Market streets became the assembly point for a company of local militia who were called out by Sheriff Jacob Shell to disperse the neighborhood watch set up by African American residents of Short Street to guard a family of fugitive slaves. At eleven p.m., reported a local news article, a time when most of Harrisburg should have been asleep, sleepy Harrisburg residents “were aroused from their slumber by the sound of the fife and drum, of Captain W’s Company on their way to the scene of the riot, to shoot down, as they said, the damned niggers.”

Having been rebuffed by the African American minutemen when he attempted to arrest the fugitive slaves for the slave catchers, Shell summoned a local company of militia, who formed at Third and Market. "where they were joined by the constable who had originally confronted the African American sentries. The troops formed into ranks facing their intended destination, and with the constable at the head of the column, a “horse pistol” in each hand, they moved boldly and confidently toward the African American neighborhood just east of the Capitol." (Year of Jubilee, Volume One, p. 533)