Lancaster is a city in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 58,039 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth-most populous city in the state. It is a core city within South Central Pennsylvania, with 552,984 residents in the Lancaster metropolitan area.
Settled in the 1720s, Lancaster is one of the oldest inland cities in the US. It served as the capital of Pennsylvania from 1799 to 1812. The city's primary industries include healthcare, tourism, public administration, manufacturing, and both professional and semi-professional services. Lancaster is located southwest of Allentown and west of Philadelphia and is a hub of Pennsylvania Dutch Country.
History
18th century
Originally called Hickory Town, Lancaster was renamed after the English city of Lancaster by native John Wright. Its symbol, the red rose, is from the House of Lancaster. Lancaster was part of the 1681 Penn's Woods Charter of William Penn, and was laid out by James Hamilton in 1734. It was incorporated as a borough in 1742 and incorporated as a city in 1818.
In the summer of 1744 the Lancaster courthouse was the venue for an important colonial treaty between the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Provinces of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Conrad Weiser served as interpreter, and the text of the treaty was soon after published by Benjamin Franklin.A Treaty, Held at the Town of Lancaster, in Pennsylvania, By the Honourable the Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, And the Honourable the Commissioners for the Provinces of Virginia and Maryland, With the Indians of the Six Nations, In June, 1744. Philadelphia: B. Franklin, 1744.
During the American Revolution, Lancaster served for one day as the temporary capital of the United States, seated at the Court House (built 1739, destroyed by fire in 1784 and rebuilt before relocating to current Lancaster County Courthouse in 1852; original site is now the Soldiers & Sailors Monument at Penn Square c. 1874), on September 27, 1777, after the Continental Congress fled Philadelphia, which had been captured by the British. The revolutionary government then moved still farther away to York, Pennsylvania.
A surviving mid-18th-century Torah ark lintel from the Lancaster home of Joseph Simon reflects the use of private homes for traditional Jewish prayer in colonial cities without synagogues. Its carving depicts the Tablets of the Law and bears the Hebrew phrase “Know before Whom you are standing.”
19th century
Lancaster was the capital of Pennsylvania from 1799 to 1812, with the state capital located at the Court House (built 1784 and demolished 1852 and now site of Soldiers & Sailors Monument at Penn Square). In 1812, the capital was moved to Harrisburg, where it has remained since.
U.S. census reports show that, from 1800 to 1900, Lancaster ranked among the nation's top 100 most populous urban areas.
In 1851, the current Lancaster County Prison, known locally as Lancaster Castle, was built in the city but shares no visual similarities with the Lancaster Castle in England. The prison remains in use, and was used for public hangings until 1912. It replaced a 1737 structure on a different site.
The first long-distance paved road in the United States was the former Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, which connected the cities of Lancaster and Philadelphia. Opened in 1795, the turnpike was paved with stone the whole way, and overlaid with gravel. The sixty-two-mile turnpike cost more than $450,000, a staggering sum for the time. The route followed what is now Pennsylvania Route 340 (also called the "Old Philadelphia Pike") from Lancaster to Thorndale and U.S. Route 30 Business and U.S. Route 30 from Thorndale to Philadelphia.
The city of Lancaster was home to several important figures in American history. Wheatland, the estate of James Buchanan, the fifteenth President of the United States, is one of Lancaster's most popular attractions. Thaddeus Stevens, considered among the most powerful members of the United States House of Representatives, lived in Lancaster as an attorney. Stevens gained notoriety as a Radical Republican and for his abolitionism. The Fulton Opera House in the city was named for Lancaster native Robert Fulton, a renaissance man who created the first fully functional steamboat. All of these individuals have had local schools named after them.
After the American Revolutionary War, Lancaster became an iron-foundry center. Two of the most common products needed by pioneers to settle the Frontier were manufactured in Lancaster: the Conestoga wagon and the Pennsylvania long rifle. The Conestoga wagon was named after the Conestoga River, which runs through the city. The innovative gunsmith William Henry lived in Lancaster and was a U.S. Congressman and leader during and after the American Revolution.
In 1803, Meriwether Lewis visited Lancaster to be educated in survey methods by the well-known surveyor Andrew Ellicott. During his visit, Lewis learned to plot latitude and longitude as part of his overall training needed to lead the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
In 1879, Franklin Winfield Woolworth opened his first successful five and dime store in the city of Lancaster, the F. W. Woolworth Company.
20th and 21st centuries Lancaster was one of the winning communities for the All-America City award in 2000.http://www.ncl.org/aac/past_winners/past_winners.html
In 2009, a community organization installed and began monitoring 164 closed-circuit cameras in Lancaster, which engendered some local opposition."Keeping watch on the city's cameras" , Lancaster Online
On October 13, 2011, Lancaster's City Council officially recognized September 27 as Capital Day, a holiday recognizing Lancaster's one day as capital of the United States in 1777.
Lancaster receives 20 times more refugees per capita than the rest of the United States, leading it to be dubbed "America's refugee capital" in 2015. Between 2005 and 2019, nearly 5,000 refugees were resettled in Lancaster. Lancaster announced its designation as a Certified Welcoming City in 2019. Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai visited Lancaster in 2017 to honor its commitment to refugees, an experience she detailed in her book We Are Displaced. Lancaster City Council voted to end cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2024.
Geography Lancaster is located in the Piedmont region of Pennsylvania. It lies slightly north of the Conestoga River, a left tributary of the Susquehanna River. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and 1.65% is water.
Neighborhoods
Cabbage Hill/The Hill (named for the cabbage patches kept by ethnic Germans in this area. Lancaster City Living. Retrieved on 2013-07-23.) Chestnut Hill Downtown/Center City Downtown Investment District Historic East Side Eighth Ward Gallery Row/Arts District Galebach Ward Northwest Corridor Penn Square Prospect Heights Seventh Ward Sixth Ward Uptown West End Woodward Hill Musser Park Mussertown
Climate Under the Köppen climate classification, Lancaster falls within either a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa) if the isotherm is used or a humid subtropical climate (Cfa) if the isotherm is used. The hottest recorded temperature in the city was on August 7, 1918, while the coldest recorded temperature was on January 22, 1984. On average, the city receives 42 inches of precipitation a year. September is the wettest month of the year and February the driest. The snowiest winter on record for Lancaster was the winter of 2009-10 when 72 inches of snow fell and the smallest amount of snow on record was when four inches fell during the winter of 1949–50. The highest recorded January temperature was on January 26, 1950, and the coldest July temperature on July 4, 1918.
On average, the city receives 203 days of sun a year. The shortest days of the year are between December 18 and December 25, when day length is nine hours and 19 minutes. The sun reaches its lowest point in the sky of 26° between December 11 and December 31. The longest days of the year are June 19 to June 23, reaching 15 hours and one minute. The sun reaches its highest point in the sky of 73° from June 10 to July 2.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Lancaster had a population of 58,039. The median age was 32.7 years; 22.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 11.3% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 96.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 94.0 males age 18 and over.
Of those residents, 40.3% were Hispanic/Latino, 38.9% were non-Hispanic White, 12.6% were non-Hispanic Black, 3.8% were Asian, and 4.4% identified as mixed or other races.
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 22,131 households in Lancaster, of which 29.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 30.0% were married-couple households, 23.5% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 35.5% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 33.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 23,769 housing units, of which 6.9% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.8% and the rental vacancy rate was 4.2%.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 26,476 45.6% Black or African American 8,726 15.0% American Indian and Alaska Native 375 0.6% Asian 2,268 3.9% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 26 0.0% Some other race 11,782 20.3% Two or more races 8,386 14.4% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 23,341 40.2%
2010 census
As of the 2010 census, the city was 55.2% White, 16.3% Black or African American, 0.7% Native American, 3.0% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian, and 5.8% were two or more races. 39.3% of the population were of Hispanic or Latino ancestry.
2000 census
As of the 2000 census, there were 56,348 people, 20,933 households, and 12,162 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 23,024 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 61.55% White, 14.09% African American, 0.44% Native American, 2.46% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 17.44% from other races, and 3.94% from two or more races. 30.76% of the population were Hispanic or Latino people of any race.
There were 20,933 households, out of which 31.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.4% were married couples living together, 19.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.9% were non-families. 33.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.23.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 27.5% under the age of 18, 13.9% from 18 to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 17.7% from 45 to 64, and 10.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $29,770, and the median income for a family was $34,623. Males had a median income of $27,833 versus $21,862 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,955. 21.2% of the population and 17.9% of families were below the poverty line. 29.2% of those under the age of 18 and 12.9% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. Poverty in Lancaster is twice the state's average, and public school records list more than 900 children as homeless.
Although there are many Amish people from this area, not everyone from Lancaster is Amish, contrary to popular belief.
Ethnic groups The largest ethnic groups in Lancaster as of recent estimates are: