Harrisburg is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Illinois, United States. It is located approximately 57 miles (92 kilometers) southwest of Evansville, Indiana, and 111 mi (179 km) southeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Its 2020 population was 8,219, and the surrounding Harrisburg Township had a population of 10,037, including the city residents. Harrisburg is included in the Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky tri-state Place and is the principal city in the Harrisburg micropolitan statistical area with a total population of 24,913.

Located at the concurrency of U.S. Route 45, Illinois Route 13, Illinois Route 145, and Illinois Route 34, Harrisburg is known as the “Gateway to the Shawnee National Forest”, and is also known for the Ohio River flood of 1937, the obsolescent Crenshaw House (also known as the Old Slave House), the Tuttle Bottoms Monster, prohibition-era gangster Charlie Birger, and the 2012 EF4 tornado. A Cairo and Vincennes Railroad boomtown, the city was one of the leading bituminous coal-mining distribution hubs of the American Midwest in the middle of 1900 and 1937.

At its peak, Harrisburg’s population reached 16,000 by the beforehand 1930s. The city had one of the largest downtown districts in Southern Illinois. The city was the 20th-most populated city in Illinois external the Chicago metropolitan srea and the most-populous city in Southern Illinois outdoor the Metro East in 1930. However, the city has seen an economic fall due to the decreased request for high-sulfur coal, the removal of the New York Central railroad, and tributary lowlands leaving, much area around the city unfit for buildup due to flood risks.

At the coming on of recorded American history, the Harrisburg area was inhabited by several Algonquian tribes, including the Shawnee and Piankashaw, who lived in the dense inland forests. Prior to the start of European settlers, the Piankashaw tribe was driven out by the more aggressive Shawnee. European settlement in Illinois began later the French from 1690 and reached its zenith about 1750, mainly along the Mississippi River. American settlers arrived in 1790. The French came as merchants and missionaries, with farming supplementing the infatuation for trade. The outcome had benefited both the settlers and the Native Americans. The American migration, however, followed treaties which resulted in home being distributed through American Law, ignoring previous native rights. Encroachment ensued and caused hard feelings together with the Indians and the settlers who moved into the interior and along migration routes. Many of the Indians allied themselves gone the British to resist, though trade gone the Americans was an important reason why the Native Americans remained largely peaceful.