Lancaster is a city in the
South Central part of the
Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania and is the
county seat of
Lancaster County. With a population of 55,351, it is the eighth largest city in Pennsylvania, behind
Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh,
Allentown,
Erie,
Reading,
Bethlehem, and
Scranton. The
metropolitan area population stands at 494,486 making it the 101st largest metropolitan area in the US.
Locally, Lancaster is (LANK-ister), like the city in
England for which it was named, rather than the wider American pronunciation .
History
Originally called Hickory Town, the city 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 in 1734. It was incorporated as a borough in 1742 and incorporated as a city in 1818. During the
American Revolution, it was briefly the capital of the colonies on September 27, 1777, when the
Continental Congress fled
Philadelphia, which had been captured by the British. After meeting one day, they moved still farther away, to
York, Pennsylvania. Lancaster was capital of Pennsylvania from 1799 to 1812, after which the capital was moved to
Harrisburg.
In 1737, the
Lancaster County Prison was built in the city, styled after
Lancaster Castle in
England. The prison remains in use, and was used for public hangings until 1912.
The first paved road in the United States was the former
Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, which makes up part of the present-day
U.S. Route 30. Opened in 1795, the Turnpike connected the cities of Lancaster and Philadelphia, and was designed by a Scottish engineer named
John Loudon MacAdam. Lancaster residents are known to use the word,
"macadam", in lieu of pavement or asphalt. This name is a reference to the paving process named by MacAdam.
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 Revolution, the city of 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.
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 is succeeded by
Foot Locker.
Lancaster was one of the winning communities for the
All-America City award in 2000.
Geography
Lancaster is located at 40°02'23" North, 76°18'16" West (40.039860, -76.304366), and is above sea level.
The city is located about southeast of
Harrisburg, west of
Philadelphia, north-northeast of
Baltimore and north of
Washington, D.C.The nearest towns and boroughs are
Millersville (4.0 miles),
Willow Street (4.8 miles),
East Petersburg (5.3 miles),
Lititz (7.9 miles),
Landisville (8.6 miles),
Mountville (8.8 miles),
Rothsville (8.9 miles), and
Leola (8.9 miles).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 7.4 square miles (19.2 km²), of which, 7.4 square miles (19.2 km²) of it is land and 0.14% is water.
City Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 56,348 people, 20,933 households, and 12,162 families residing in the city. The
population density was 7,616.5 people per square mile (2,940.0/km²). There were 23,024 housing units at an average density of 3,112.1/sq mi (1,201.3/km²). 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 of any race.
In 2000, 24.34% of Lancaster residents were of
Puerto Rican ancestry. The city has the highest concentration of Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania. For this reason, it is sometimes referred to as the "Spanish Rose." Lancaster celebrates its Hispanic heritage once every year with the Puerto Rican Festival.
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.
Government
Lancaster operates under a Mayor / Council form of Government. The City has a full range of services including Public Safety, Health, Housing, Parks, Streets & Highways, Water operations and Sewer operations.
Rick Gray is the 43rd
mayor of Lancaster cityThe City Council is composed of seven members: President Louise B. Williams, Patricia A. Coller, Joseph R. Morales, Nelson M. Polite, Sr., Tim J. Roschel, Kendra J. Saunders, and Jose E. Urdaneta.
Politics
Lancaster tends to be a
Democratic Party stronghold in a county that otherwise favors the
Republican Party in most elections. Registered Democrats hold a 13,000
voter registration advantage over regstered Republicans, as of June 2009.
[ ] U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama easily won the city of Lancaster, receiving 76% of the vote during the
2008 presidential election.
[ ]Crime
In 2008, 3,638 felony crimes were committed in Lancaster, which authorities blame on gangs that use the city as a stopping point to traffic narcotics and other drugs along the Eastern Seaboard. Four murders were committed in Lancaster in 2008.
Surveillance
A nonprofit group, the Lancaster Community Safety Coalition (LCSC), was created in 2003 to explore the deployment of a $2.7 million privately operated, citywide video surveillance system.
The LCSC currently monitors 70 closed-circuit TV cameras in the city of Lancaster, and will soon complete the installation of 165 more cameras to provide live, 24-hour video of nearly every street, park, and public space within the city. With 165 cameras for the city's 55,000 residents, Lancaster will have installed more outdoor cameras than many major cities, including San Francisco and Boston.
The efforts of the LCSC attracted national attention, including a front page
Los Angeles Times article called "Lancaster, Pa., keeps a close eye on itself".
The article quoted city police chief Keith Sadler as saying "Years ago, there's no way we could do this...It brings to mind
Big Brother,
George Orwell and
1984. It's just funny how Americans have softened on these issues."
Prior to the publication of the
Los Angeles Times article, there had been little public outcry in response to the expanding surveillance system, which had contributed to the resolution or prevention of several crimes. However, the national attention led to an immediate backlash and "mobilized opponents aimed at turning off the cameras, possibly for good."
commentator
Keith Olbermann used the story in his '
Worst Person in the World' segment, "calling out the 'citizen patriots of Lancaster, Pennsylvania' and criticizing them for spying on each other"
, and the surveillance system was also featured on ABC's "
Nightline" and "
CBS Evening News."
Economy
Lancaster suffers from high unemployment, especially in the southeastern quadrant. In 1999, this area, which includes census tracts 8, 9, 15, and 16, had unemployment rates of 10.9%, 10.1%, 3.5%, and 9.0% respectively, while the rate for the rest of the county was 4.9%. The Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board sees a persistent problem in underemployment: "People are working but surviving just on the edge of poverty." Outside the city, however, employment has increased 18% by adding 34,900 jobs between the years 1999 and 2002.
Lancaster City has been in the process of recreating itself recently with an explosion of specialty shops, boutiques, bars, clubs, and reinvestment in downtown institutions and locations.
Lancaster streetscape.
Since 1999, the
Lancaster County Convention Center Authority, Penn Square Partners and the City's Redevelopment Authority have pursued a controversial plan to build a 300-room Marriott Hotel and a convention center, funded by a hotel tax and taxpayer-backed bonds, in and near the space formerly occupied by the Watt & Shand department store, preserving only the building's façade. The project's supporters believe it would promote the revitalization of the city's center. Its opponents, however, feel it poses a significant risk to taxpayers. This plan also includes the demolition of significant portions of other historic sites, including Thaddeus Stevens' home.
There are also plans to convert an area of unused polluted industrial grounds (i.e., Brownfields), which were once occupied by Armstrong World Industries, into playing fields for
Franklin & Marshall College. This action is expected to take up most of the former industrial site. The
Northwest Corridor will be developed with funds from Lancaster General Hospital. The hospital plans to create a mixed-use development which will add several city blocks to Lancaster’s grid. F&M's president, John Fry, has also orchestrated the construction of new dormitories and apartments for Franklin & Marshall students along Harrisburg Pike.
Another Brownfields site is Burle Business Park, the City's only commercial and industrial park. Devoted to adaptive re-use, this facility originally opened in 1942 as a U.S. Navy electronics research, development and manufacturing plant that was operated by RCA. The Navy facility was purchased after World War II by RCA. Burle Business Park was originally occupied by Burle Industries, the successor company to the RCA New Products Division following the 1986 acquisition of RCA by
General Electric Company (GE). The GE acquisition of RCA resulted in the divestiture of this facility and the electronic business, but GE retained certain environmental liabilities that were subdivided into a separate parcel. Burle Industries is a major manufacturer of vacuum tube products, including photomultiplier tubes, power tubes, and imaging tubes. and is the largest U.S. manufacturer of photomultiplier tubes. Burle Industries has completed a voluntary clean-up under the Pennsylvania Land Recycling Program ("Act 2").
Shopping
In addition to Lancaster's plethora of urban boutiques and shops, there is the
Park City Center, the largest enclosed shopping center in
South Central Pennsylvania. The mall includes an excess of 150 stores and is anchored by
The Bon-Ton,
Boscov's,
JCPenney,
Kohl's, and
Sears.
A unique shopping experience can be found at the historic
Central Market. Built in 1889, the market is the oldest, continuously operated farmers market in the United States, and many tourists come to purchase the handmade
Amish goods that are not common elsewhere. Central Market is also the center of the city's growing 'green' movement, allowing people to purchase organic and/or locally grown foods. Central Market is listed with the
National Register of Historic Places, and its towers are of the Romanesque Revival style.
Fire Department
The City of Lancaster is protected by the Lancaster City Bureau of Fire. It employs over eighty members and responds to an average of 3,250 dispatched emergency calls per year. The Bureau operates three city-wide firehouses and one storage facility and has an apparatus fleet of six engine companies(two of which reserve engines and one of which is a foam/hazmat reserve engine), two truck companies, one command vehicle, one maintenance unit, and support units.
Fire Station Locations
- Fire Station # 1-Center City/Downtown
425 West King Street
Truck 2(Quint)
Engine 1(Rescue Engine)
Support Units
- Fire Station # 3-Center City/Downtown
333 East King Street
Truck 1(Quint)
Engine 3(Rescue Engine)
Engine 6(Reserve)
Support Units
- Fire Station # 4-North Side-Inactive-Storage Only
New Holland Avenue
Engine 5(Reserve/Foam Engine)
- Fire Station # 6-Cabbage Hill
843 Fremont Street
Engine 2(Rescue/Foam Engine)
Engine 4(Reserve)
Transportation
The
Red Rose Transit Authority (RRTA) provides local bus transit to Lancaster City as well as surrounding areas in Lancaster County. RRTA is headquartered outside the City of Lancaster.
Capitol Trailways provides intercity bus transit from the
Lancaster train station to
King of Prussia,
Philadelphia, and
New York City.
Amtrak also serves the
Lancaster train station, located on the northernmost edge of the city at 53 McGovern Avenue. The Pennsylvanian, with service between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, as well as the Keystone, with service between Harrisburg and New York, both serve Lancaster.
The city is served by the
Lancaster Airport, located six miles (10 km) north of downtown and just south of
Lititz.
Historical landmarks
Rock Ford plantation
Many of Lancaster's landmarks were relevant places in local, state, and national history.
- Hamilton Watch Company- introduced the world's first battery-powered watch, the Hamilton Electric 500 in 1957.
Art and museums
The city of Lancaster hosts several museums that preserve its important contributions to society. The
Demuth Museum is located in the former home of a well-known Lancaster painter named
Charles Demuth. Additional art museums include the Lancaster Museum of Art and the Philips Museum of Art on the campus of Franklin & Marshall College. Art students at the state-of-the-art
Pennsylvania College of Art and Design present their works at the academy's gallery that is open to the public. Another newly constructed museum, completed in 2007, is the Lancaster County Quilts and Textile Museum that celebrates the hand-sewn quilts and other textile items produced by the region's Amish community. Lancaster also possesses two other museums that pay homage to its unique Pennsylvania Dutch heritage with the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society Museum and the Heritage Center Museum. Children can have a hands-on experience with educational learning at the Hands-on House, also known as Children's Museum of Lancaster. Nature and geology-minded visitors can view the more earthly exhibits of the
Louise Arnold Tanger Arboretum and the North Museum of Natural History and Science. Upon completion, the
Lancaster County Convention Center will incorporate the
Stevens and Smith Historic Site, a museum that will include the preserved home of
Thaddeus Stevens and his confidante Lydia Hamilton Smith. In addition to its exhibits, the underground portion of the site will feature a recently discovered
Underground Railroad feature: a converted water cistern utilized in the nineteenth century to hide runaway slaves escaping to freedom. In the surrounding county, the
Landis Valley Museum contains exhibits that illustrate Lancaster County's history and culture.
Sports
Baseball
Clipper Magazine Stadium
After 44 years without professional baseball, the Lancaster Barnstormers arrived to fill the void left by the departed
Red Roses. The Barnstormers are named after the
barnstorming baseball players who played exhibition games in the surrounding county, as well as a reference to the county's many farms. The Barnstormers continue a couple of traditions of the old Red Roses, as their official colors are red, navy blue, and khaki, the same colors used by the Red Roses. More importantly, the Barnstormers continue the old "War of the Roses" rivalry between Lancaster and the nearby city of
York, contending with the
York Revolution.
The city of Lancaster is the hometown of
Major League alumnus,
Tom Herr. Herr played for the
Philadelphia Phillies, the
New York Mets, the
San Francisco Giants, and finally with the
St. Louis Cardinals. After his time in the Majors, he coached the Black Knights baseball team of
Hempfield High School for several years. Herr joined the Lancaster Barnstormers for their inaugural season in 2005 as the manager. After a dismal 2005 season, he led the Barnstormers to their first-ever championship in 2006, against the
Bridgeport Bluefish. Two of Tom's sons,
Aaron and Jordan, both play professional baseball on Major League-affiliated clubs. Aaron is a member of the
Louisville Bats, the AAA-level affiliate of the
Cincinnati Reds. Jordan joined his hometown Barnstormers for the 2008 season in lieu of completing his senior year at the
University of Pittsburgh. Following the completion of the Barnstormers' 2008 season, Jordan piqued the interest of the
Chicago White Sox, who allocated him to their Rookie-level
Great Falls Voyagers.
Basketball
Professional basketball returned to Lancaster in 2009 with the Liberty. The team will participate in the Global Professional Basketball League, a minor league organization that will play its inaugural season in 2010. The "Liberty" name refers to September 27, 1777, when the
Continental Congress designated Lancaster as the national capital of the
Thirteen Colonies for one day. The move to Lancaster was necessary after
Philadelphia, the former capital, was captured by British forces.
Golf
Professional golf is well-represented by the
Professional Golf Association's
Jim Furyk. He placed 4th in the 1998 and 2003 Masters tournament, won the 2003 U.S. Open, placed 4th in the 1997, 1998, and 2006 British Open, and placed 6th in the 1997 PGA championship. Furyk also won the
Vardon Trophy in 2006. He is an alumnus of Manheim Township High School, located in the immediate suburb of
Manheim Township.
The 2015
U.S. Women's Open will be held at the
Lancaster Country Club.
Soccer
The
Women's Premier Soccer League added the
Lancaster Inferno in the 2008 season. The WPSL is a
FIFA-recognized Division IV league, and is also included in the fourth tier of the
American soccer pyramid. The Inferno is owned by the Pennsylvania Classics organization and play their home games at the Hempfield High School stadium in
Landisville. The Inferno's colors are orange, black, and white.
A Lancaster native named
Julian Valentin plays for the
Los Angeles Galaxy of
Major League Soccer. He is also a member of the Under-20
United States men's national soccer team, and played in the
2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. Valentin made his professional debut on October 26, 2008 versus
FC Dallas.
Amateur sports in Lancaster
Lancaster's suburban area hosts several amateur sports teams. Ice hockey is represented by the Central Penn Panthers, a member of the junior-level
Atlantic Metropolitan Hockey League, and the Lancaster Firebirds, a youth amateur ice hockey organization of the USA Hockey's Atlantic District. American football is represented by the
Lancaster Lightning, a member of the semi-professional
North American Football League, that plays in nearby Kinzers. A close cousin of American football, rugby, is represented by the
Roses Rugby Football Club of the Mid Atlantic Rugby Football Union, of which the Roses RFC are the 2005 champion. Roller derby is represented by the Dutchland Derby Rollers, an all-female roller derby team which plays to raise money for various charities.
Historical Lancaster teams
All of Lancaster's defunct teams either were members of a professional baseball or basketball league. The most well-known of the city's former teams were the
Lancaster Red Roses of the Eastern Professional Baseball League that played from 1906 to 1909, and from 1940 to their last season in 1961. The Red Roses were known as the Lancaster Maroons from 1896 to 1899 and the Lancaster Red Sox in 1932.
The most well-known of Lancaster's former basketball teams were the
Lancaster Red Roses of the
Continental Basketball Association from 1946 to 1949, and from 1953 to 1955. The Continental Basketball Association later hosted another Lancaster team called the Lightning from 1981-1985. The Lightning later moved to
Rockford, Illinois, where they played until the 2007 season. The most recent basketball team to play in Lancaster was the Storm of the
Eastern Basketball Alliance from 1997 to 2000. This team won the league championship in 1999.
Lancaster Classic
The city of Lancaster hosts the Tom Bamford
Lancaster Classic, a professional bicycle racing event held each June since 1992. It is part of the
2006-2007 UCI America Tour and the
2007 USA Cycling Professional Tour.
Inventions
Hamilton pocketwatch
- The first battery-powered watch, the Hamilton Electric 500, was released in 1957 by the Hamilton Watch Company.
- Peeps, an Easter confection shaped as marshmallow chicks covered with yellow sugar, were invented by the Rodda Candy Company of Lancaster in the 1920s. In 1953, Rodda was purchased by Sam Born, the Russian immigrant who invented ice cream "jimmies", and production was moved to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Education
Education in Lancaster is provided by many private and public institutions. The
School District of Lancaster runs the city's
public schools. The local high school campuses are McCaskey and McCaskey East. Established in 1836, it is the second oldest school district in Pennsylvania.
has a long history in the county; it was founded in 1926. It currently falls under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Harrisburg.
The Lancaster area hosts several colleges and universities including: Consolidated School of Business,
Franklin & Marshall College,
Elizabethtown College Lancaster Center, Lancaster General College of Nursing & Health Sciences,
Lancaster Theological Seminary,
Lancaster Bible College,
Pennsylvania College of Art and Design,
Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology,
Millersville University of Pennsylvania,
Central Pennsylvania College,and the
Harrisburg Area Community College.
Sister cities
Media
Print
TV
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan=5 |
TV stations
|-
|
call letters ||
channel ||
network ||
location ||
Owner|-
|
WGAL || 8 / 58 || NBC || Lancaster || Hearst~Argyle Television
|-
|
WGAL - DT || HD 8.2 || TH!S Movie Network || Lancaster || Hearst~Argyle Television
|-
Radio & Television
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan=5 |
FM stations
|-
|
call letters ||
frequency ||
format ||
location ||
Owner|-
|
WFNM || 89.1 || College || Lancaster || Franklin and Marshall College
|-
|
WJTL || 90.3 || Christian Contemporary || Lancaster || Creative Ministries, Inc.
|-
|
WLCH || 91.3 || Spanish || Lancaster || Spanish American Civic Association For Equality
|-
|
WIXQ || 91.7 || College || Millersville || Millersville University
|-
|
WLRI || 92.9 || Oldies || Gap || Octorara Communications Association / MyLRI Networks, Inc.
|-
|
WDAC || 94.5 || Religious || Lancaster || WDAC Radio Company
|-
|
WLAN-FM || 96.9 || Top 40 || Lancaster || Clear Channel
|-
|
W259AA || 99.7 || Public Radio || Lancaster (Harrisburg) || WITF, Inc. (translator for 89.5)
|-
|
WROZ || 101.3 || Adult Contemporary || Lancaster || Hall Communications
|-
|
WIOV-FM || 105.1 || Country || Ephrata || Citadel Broadcasting
|-
|
WRTY || 90.7 || Jazz/Classical|| Ephrata (Philadelphia)|| Temple University (translator for WRTI 90.1)
|-
Local businesses
The businesses that are based in the vicinity of Lancaster include:
Armstrong World Industries,
Auntie Anne's,
Fulton Bank,
Fulton Financial Corporation,
Herley Industries,
Isaac's Restaurant & Deli,
Kunzler & Company, Inc.,
Lancaster Brewing Company,
Lancaster Laboratories,
MapQuest,
Opening Day Partners,
Y&S Candies division of
The Hershey Company, and the
Lancaster Caramel Company (the original parent company of Hershey Chocolate Company).
See also
