Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, known as the Garden Spot of America since the 18th century, is located in the southeastern part of the state of Pennsylvania, in the United States.[2] With an estimated 2005 population of 490,562 Lancastrians, Lancaster County forms the Lancaster Metropolitan Statistical Area, the 99th largest of 361 MSAs in the U.S.[3] The city of Lancaster6 is the county seat.
Lancaster County is a popular tourist destination, due mostly to the many plain sect residents, known as the Amish or Pennsylvania Dutch.[4] The misnomer 'Pennsylvania Dutch' comes from the misunderstanding of the word 'Deutsch', pronounced 'DOY-ch', which is how the word 'German' is pronounced in the German language. They are the descendants of Germans who immigrated in the 18th and 19th centuries for the freedom of religion offered by William Penn,[5] and were attracted by the rich soil and mild climate of the area.[6]
Lancastrians can easily spot a visitor to the area by how they pronounce the word Lancaster. Locals and people from nearby counties in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware pronounce Lancaster as LANK-ister. This is unusual as most Lancasters in the United States are pronounced as LAN-cast-er, though Lancaster, Texas also uses the LANK-ister pronounciation.
History
Natives
The first recorded inhabitants of the Susquehanna River valley were the Iroquoian speaking Susquehannocks, whose name meant "people of the muddy river" in Algonquin. They were also known as the Conestoga, from their principal village, Kanestoge, known to the English as Indiantown. They were viewed by European settlers as a friendly tribe, converted to Christianity, who made brooms and baskets for sale, and named children after their favorite neighbors.[7]
However, the outbreak of Pontiac's War in the summer of 1763, coupled with the conciliatory but militarily ineffective policies of the provincial government, aroused widespread suspicion and hatred against all Indians in the frontier counties of the state. Rumors spread that the Conestoga were harboring strange and hostile Indians in their village. On December 14, 1763, the Paxton Boys, led by Matthew Smith and Capt. Lazarus Stewart, descended upon the village, slaughtered the six Indians present at the time, and burned their houses. The fourteen survivors of the tribe were placed in protective custody in the county workhouse, but the Paxton Boys returned on December 27, broke into the workhouse, and butchered the remaining Susquehannocks. The widespread sympathy in the frontier counties for the perpetrators of these acts made their discovery and arrest futile. [8]
Other tribes in the area included the Shawnee, Gawanese, Lenape (or Delaware), and Nanticokes.[9]
Boundaries
The area that became Lancaster County was part of William Penn's 1681 charter,[10] and John Kennerly received the first recorded deed from Penn in 1691.[11] Although Matthias Kreider was said to have been in the area as early as 1691, there is no evidence that anyone actually settled in Lancaster County before 1710.[12]
Lancaster County was part of Chester County, Pennsylvania until May 10, 1729 when it became the fourth county in the state.[13] Lancaster County was named after the city of Lancaster in the county of Lancashire in England, the native home of John Wright, one of the early settlers.[14] Six other counties were subsequently formed from territory directly taken, in all or in part, from Lancaster County: Berks (1752), Cumberland (1750), Dauphin (1785), Lebanon (1813), Northumberland (1772), and York (1749).[13] Many other counties were in turn formed from these six.
The southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and thus of Lancaster County, was in dispute for years. Lord Baltimore believed that his grant[15] to Maryland extended to the 40th parallel[16] — about halfway between Lancaster and Willow Street. Starting in 1730, Thomas Cresap started Cresap's War by confiscating farms near Peach Bottom and Wrightsville, establishing ferries there. He started vandalizing farms, killing livestock and driving away settlers in southern York and Lancaster counties, giving those lands to his followers. When a follower was arrested, the Marylanders broke him out of the Lancaster lockup. Lord Baltimore negotiated a compromise in 1733, but Cresap ignored it, and continued his raids. When an attempt was made to arrest him in 1734, he killed a deputy at his door. The Pennsylvania governor demanded Maryland arrest Cresap for murder; the Maryland governor named him a captain in their militia instead. In 1736, he was finally arrested, and jailed until 1737 when the King intervened. In 1750, a court decided that Lord Baltimore had forfeited his rights to a twenty-mile swath of land.[16] The new Pennsylvania-Maryland border was properly established by the Mason-Dixon line in 1767.
F
The names of the original Lancaster County townships reflect the diverse array of settlers in the new county:[17] two had Welsh names (Caernarvon and Lampeter), three had Native American names (Cocalico, Conestoga and Peshtank or Paxton), six were English (Warwick, Lancaster, Martic, Sadsbury, Salisbury and Hempfield); four were Irish (Donegal, Drumore, Derry, and Leacock), Manheim was German, Lebanon came from the Bible, and Earl the anglicization of the German surname of Graf or Groff.[18]
19th century statesmen
Lancaster County's native son James Buchanan, a Democrat, was elected as the 15th President of the United States in 1856,[19] the only Pennsylvanian to hold the presidency. His home, Wheatland, is now a museum in Lancaster.[20] Thaddeus Stevens, the noted Radical Republican, served Lancaster County in the United States House of Representatives from 1848 until his death in 1868.[21] Stevens left a $50,000 bequest to start an orphanage[22] that eventually became the state-owned Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology. Both men are buried in Lancaster.[21][23]
Slavery and the Christiana incident
[24]Pennsylvania abolished slavery in 1780, although in a slow manner. The existing 6000 slaves in Pennsylvania remained slaves, and the registered children of those slaves were slaves until their 28th birthday. The last slave child registered in Pennsylvania was Haley, born in 1811, and a freedman no later than 1839.[25] Thus Pennsylvania was legally a free state when the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was passed as part of the Compromise of 1850.
Being immediately north of the Mason-Dixon line, Lancaster County was an important stop on the Underground Railway. Charles Spotts found 17 stations;[26] including ones with trap doors, hidden vaults, an underground cave and one with a brick tunnel leading to Octorara Creek.
As slaveowners go, 51-year-old Edward Gorsuch was probably one of the best. He did not beat his slaves, and as a rich Maryland wheat farmer, he could afford to manumit slaves in their 20s. He allowed his slaves to work for cash elsewhere during the slow season. There was wheat missing, though, sold to a local farmer by his slaves, and he thought a former slave was responsible for this dishonesty. As he had a bad temper, slaves Noah Buley, Nelson Ford, George Ford, and Joshua Hammond became afraid, and fled to the farm of William Parker, a mulatto who lived in Christiana, Pennsylvania. Parker, 29, was a member of the Lancaster Black Self-Protection Society, and known to use violence.
Honor was at stake. Having slaves run away made him look disreputable, so Gorsuch obtained four warrants, and organized four parties which set out separately to recover his property. He died in the attempt, though, and others were wounded. Although Gorsuch was legally entitled to recover his slaves, it isn't clear who precipitated the violence. The incident — variously called the "Christiana Riot", the "Christiana Outrage", and the "Christiana Tragedy", depending on one's political and religious leanings — became a national controversy. In September, 1851, the grand jury returned a true bill against 38 individuals who were then held in Moyamensing Prison in Philadelphia to await trial. The only one who was ever tried was Castner Hanway.
It's not clear that Castner Hanway was responsible in any way for what happened. He was a white man, one of the first on the scene. On the other hand, Hanway and his horse provided cover for Joshua Gorsuch and Dr. Pearce, who were wounded. Hanway was tried in federal court in Philadelphia on November 15, 1851 for liberating slaves taken into custody by US Marshal Kline, for resisting arrest, for conspiracy, and for treason. The jury returned a Not Guilty verdict in only 15 minutes. Among the five defense lawyers was congressman Thaddeus Stevens.
Religious history
Not only did religious differences spur early growth of Pennsylvania and Lancaster County, but Lancaster County gave birth to many religious bodies as well. The oldest surviving dwelling for European immigrants in the county[27] is that of Bishop Hans Herr, a Mennonite. In 1989, Donald Kraybill counted 37 distinct religious bodies/organizations, with 289 congregations and 41,600 baptized members, among the plain sects who are descendents of the Anabaptist Mennonite immigrants to Lancaster County.[28] The Mennonite Central Committee in Akron is often among the first to arrive at a disaster scene,[29] quietly providing manpower and materiel to local organizations that better understand where relief should be directed.[30]
In addition to the Ephrata Cloister, the United Brethren in Christ and the Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) trace their beginnings to a 1767 meeting[31] at the Isaac Long barn, near the hamlet of Oregon, in West Lampeter Township.[32] The EUB, a German methodist church, merged with the traditionally-english Methodist church to become the United Methodist Church in 1968,[33]
Innovations
A Pennsylvania Dutch Fraktur baptismal certificate from 1788Lancaster County's innovators have given the world:
Fraktur, the artistic and elaborate 18th century and 19th century hand-illuminated folk art inspired by German blackface type, originated at Johann Conrad Beissel's cloister of German 7th-day Baptists in Ephrata.[34]
The first battery-powered watch, the Hamilton Electric 500, was released in 1957 by the Hamilton Watch Company.[35]
The Pennsylvania Long Rifle,[36] sometimes mistakenly called the Kentucky Long Rifle.
The Conestoga wagon,[37] which started the practice of driving right-of-center.
The Stogie cigar[38] The word Stogie is a shortened form of Conestoga.
The Amish quilt, a highly utilitarian art form, dates to 1849 in Lancaster County.[39]
Government
Lancaster County is represented nationally by U.S. Senators Arlen Specter (R) and Bob Casey, Jr. (D), and by U.S. Congressman Joe Pitts (R) of Pennsylvania's 16th congressional district.[40]
State Senators Gibson E. Armstrong 13th District, Michael W. Brubaker 36th District, and Mike Folmer 48th District are all Republican.[41]
Presidential Election results in Lancaster County
Democrats Republicans
Registration Votes Registration Votes
1980 40505 29.86% 30026 27.30% 95124 70.14% 79963 72.70%
1984 47235 29.31% 31308 24.01% 113906 70.69% 99090 75.99%
1988 41919 26.91% 38982 28.67% 113843 73.09% 96979 71.33%
1992 47206 28.03% 44255 33.35% 121190 71.97% 88447 66.65%
1996 56036 28.27% 49120 34.59% 142170 71.73% 92875 65.41%
2000 67932 29.01% 54968 32.17% 166272 70.99% 115900 67.83%
2004
Source: The Committee of Seventy [42]
With the exception of P. Michael Sturla 96th District, a Democrat, all local state Representatives are Republican: Thomas C. Creighton 37th District, Katie True 41st District, Scott W. Boyd 43rd District, John C. Bear 97th District, David S. Hickernell 98th District, Gordon Denlinger 99th District and Bryan Cutler 100th District.[43]
With the exception of County Commissioner Molly Henderson and Jury Commissioner Judith A. Saylor, who are both Democrats,all county officials are members of the Republican Party. The other county officials are County Commissioners Dick Shellenberger and Sharron Nelson, named to fill the unexpired term of Howard "Pete" Shaub, who resigned from office, District Attorney Donald R. Totaro, Coroner Gary Kirchner, MD, Sheriff Terry A. Bergman, [44] , Recorder of Wills Donna Reinaker, Clerk of Common Pleas Court Dale Denlinger, Treasurer Craig Ebersole, Prothonotary Randall O. Wenger, Controller Dennis Stuckey, and Jury Commissioner Linda Schwanger.[45]
Geography
Lancaster County has a total area of 2,548 km² (984 sq mi). 2,458 km² (949 sq mi) of which is land and 90 km² (35 sq mi) of it (3.53%) is water.[46]
Watersheds
Almost all of Lancaster County is in the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin, via the Susquehanna River watershed (the exception is a small unnamed tributary of the West Branch of Brandywine Creek that rises in far eastern Salisbury Township and is part of the Delaware River watershed).[47] The major streams in the county (with percent area drained) are: Conestoga River and Little Conestoga Creek (31.42%); Pequea Creek (15.02%); Chiques Creek (or Chickies Creek, 12.07%); Cocalico Creek (11.25%); Octoraro Creek (10.74%); and Conowingo Creek (3.73%).[48]
Protected areas
Lancaster County is home to Susquehannock State Park, located on 224 acres (0.906 km²) overlooking the Susquehanna River in Drumore Township.[49] One of the three tracts comprising William Penn State Forest, the 10 acre (0.04 km²) Cornwall fire tower site, is located in northern Penn Township near the Lebanon County border. The site, with its 1923 fire tower, was acquired by the state in January, 1935.[50]
There are also six Pennsylvania State Game Lands for hunting, trapping, and fishing located in Lancaster County. They are numbers (with location and area): 46 (near Hopeland, 5035 acres or 20.38 km² (8 sq mi)), 52 (near Morgantown, 1447 acres or 5.86 km² (2 sq mi)), 136 (near Kirkwood, 91 acres or 0.37 km² (0 sq mi)), 156 (near Poplar Grove, 4537 acres or 18.36 km² (7 sq mi)), 220 (near Reinholds, 96 acres or 0.39 km² (0 sq mi)), and 288 (near Martic Forge, 89 acres or 0.36 km² (0 sq mi)).[51]
Adjoining counties
Lancaster County is bounded to the north by Lebanon County, to the northeast by Berks County, and to the east by Chester County (the southeastern boundary with Chester County is formed by Octoraro Creek). To the south are Cecil and Harford Counties, Maryland (across the Mason-Dixon line).[52] To the west is York County (the boundary is the western shore of the Susquehanna River). To the northwest is Dauphin County (the boundary is formed by Conewago Creek).[53]
The Strasburg Rail Road, established 1832, is the oldest shortline railroad in the U.S.
Transportation
Main article: Transportation in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Lying on the natural route from Philadelphia to the western part of Pennsylvania, many improvements in transportation have been pioneered in Lancaster County, among them the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, later part of the Lincoln Highway, in 1794[54], a canal in 1820 and the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad in 1834.[55]
Highways
Lancaster County's highways include the Pennsylvania Turnpike (or Interstate 76), U.S. Route 30 (or the Lincoln Highway), U.S. Route 222, and U.S. Route 322. Pennsylvania State Routes in the county include: 10, 23, 41, 72, 230, 241, 272, 283, 324, 340, 372, 441, 462, 472, 501, 625, 741, 743, 772, 896, 897, and 999.[53]
Current railroads
As of 2006, passenger service in Lancaster County is provided by Amtrak, whose Keystone Corridor passes through the county, with stops at Lancaster, Mount Joy and Elizabethtown. A station is planned at Paradise to provide connecting service with the Strasburg Railroad, which runs passenger excursions from nearby Leaman Place to Strasburg.
The principal freight operator in the county is Norfolk Southern Railway (NS). The NS main line follows the Susquehanna River (with trackage rights for Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR)), and leaves the county by crossing the river on Shocks Mills Bridge near Marietta. NS also has trackage rights over the Keystone Corridor, to which it is connected by the Royalton Branch, which runs north along the river from the main line at Marietta, and the Columbia Branch, which runs from the Corridor at Dillerville to the main line at Columbia. Two other NS branches originate on the Corridor: the Lititz Secondary, which runs from Dillerville to Manheim and ends at Lititz, and the New Holland Industrial, which leaves the Corridor around the east end of Lancaster to run east to New Holland and ends at East Earl.
Several shortlines also operate in the county. With the exception of the Strasburg Railroad, all are freight railroads. Penn Eastern Rail Lines (PRL) operates on a spur off the NS branch to Manheim, and on a longer line in the northeast corner of Lancaster County into Berks County. Landisville Terminal and Transfer Company (LNTV) operates on a spur off the Amtrak line at Landisville. The Tyburn Railroad operates some trackage around Dillerville. Frank Sahd Salvage, Inc., of Columbia, has received state funds to repair 2.5 miles of track there for operation, probably by the Penn Eastern, but this has not yet been returned to service. [56]
Population & Growth[57]
Population Growth Rate
Decade County U.S. County U.S.
1790 36,081 3,929,214
1800 43,403 5,308,483 20.29% 35.10%
1810 53,927 7,239,881 24.25% 36.38%
1820 68,336 9,638,453 26.72% 33.13%
1830 76,631 12,866,020 12.14% 33.49%
1840 84,203 17,069,453 9.88% 32.67%
1850 98,944 23,191,876 17.51% 35.87%
1860 116,314 31,443,321 17.56% 35.58%
1870 121,340 38,558,371 4.32% 22.63%
1880 139,447 50,189,209 14.92% 30.16%
1890 149,095 62,979,766 6.92% 25.48%
1900 159,241 76,212,168 6.81% 21.01%
1910 167,029 92,228,496 4.89% 21.02%
1920 173,797 106,021,537 4.05% 14.96%
1930 196,882 123,202,624 13.28% 16.21%
1940 212,504 132,164,569 7.93% 7.27%
1950 234,717 151,325,798 10.45% 14.50%
1960 278,359 179,323,175 18.59% 18.50%
1970 319,693 203,302,031 14.85% 13.37%
1980 362,346 226,542,199 13.34% 11.43%
1990 422,822 248,709,873 16.69% 9.79%
2000 470,658 281,421,906 11.31% 13.15%
Growth rate of Lancaster County population (dark blue) lagged the growth rate of the U.S. population (magenta) until the second half of the 20th century. Chart shows population growth as a percentage of the previous decennial census.
Lancaster County Demographics[58]
2004 County State U.S.
White 93.6% 86.2% 80.4%
African American 3.4% 10.5% 12.8%
Native American 0.2% 0.2% 1.0%
Asian 1.6% 2.2% 4.2%
Pacific Islander 0.1% 0.0% 0.2%
Two or more races 1.1% 0.9% 1.5%
Hispanic/Latino of any race 6.5% 3.8% 14.1%
The Lancaster Airport is at 40N07.30' Latitude, 76W17.77' Longitude, and 403 feet above sea level.[59]
Population
The population density is 495 persons per square mile (versus 79.6 for the U.S. as a whole). In 2000, the average commute for adults was 21.7 minutes, compared to a national average of 25.5 minutes.[58]
About half the Hispanic population of Lancaster County lives within the city limits of Lancaster. Historian Douglas Harper says that they started arriving around 1970 when chicken processing plants in New Holland recruited Puerto Ricans as laborers, and told them to rent housing in Lancaster to avoid upsetting the locals.[60] There was at least one other reason to recommend Lancaster to low-income workers, however: affordability. As of the 2000 census, the average rent in Lancaster was only $418 versus $572 for the county as a whole (including the city of Lancaster).[61][62]
According to Harper, when the county got a good reputation as a safe place with good schools and jobs in cities like Philadelphia and New York, many more Hispanics came. As of 2000, Lancaster city is more Hispanic (30.8% Hispanic) than Philadelphia (8.5%) or New York City (27.0%).[63] Lancaster has not yet fully adapted, although the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg has created its first Hispanic parish in the city, San Juan Bautista Iglesia Catolica Hispana.[64] The School District of Lancaster, with 52.3% Hispanic students, is struggling.[65][66]
As of 2005, there were 490,562 residents in Lancaster County, representing 4.2% growth since 2000 and 11.3% growth since 1990. The population is all-American: 25.3% under 18 (compared to 25.0% nationally), 14.2% over 65 (12.4% nationally), and 51% female (50.8% nationally).[58]
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 5.58% of the population report speaking Pennsylvania German, German, or Dutch at home, while a further 4.97% speak Spanish.[67] 39.8% were of German, 11.8% United States or American, 7.2% Irish and 5.7% English ancestry according to the United States Census, 2000.
Further information: List of people from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Economy
In 2004, the county had a per capita personal income (PCPI) of $30,790, only 93% of the national average. This reflects a growth of 4.5% from the prior year, versus a 5.0% growth for the nation as a whole.[3] Despite the lower income, the county poverty rate in 2003 was just 8.3% compared to a national rate of 12.5%. In 2004, federal spending in Lancaster County was $4,199 per resident, versus a national average of $7,232.[58]
In 2005, Lancaster County was 10th of all counties in Pennsylvania with 17.7% of its workforce employed in manufacturing; the state averages 13.7%, and the leader, Crawford County, has only 25.1%.[68]
Lancaster County lags in information workers, despite being the corporate headquarters of MapQuest.[69] It ranks 31st in the state with only 1.3% of the workforce; the state as a whole employs 2.1% in information technology.[70]
The county ranks 11th in the state in managerial and financial workers, despite having only 12.5% of the workforce in those occupations (versus the state average of 12.8%). The state leaders are Chester County with 20.5% and Montgomery County with 18.5%.[71]
With only 17.3% working in the professions, Lancaster County is 31st in Pennsylvania, compared to a state average of 21.5%. Centre County leads with 31.8%, undoubtedly due to Penn State's giant footprint in an otherwise rural county, but the upscale Philadelphia suburbs of Montgomery County give them 27.2%.[72]
Lancaster County ranks even lower, 34th, in service workers, with 13.3% of the workforce, compared to a state average of 15.8%. Philadelphia County, the cheesesteak capital of the world, leads with 20.5%.[73]
There are 11,000 companies in Lancaster County.[74] The county's largest manufacturing and distributing employers at the end of 2003 were Acme Markets, Alumax Mill Products, Anvil International, Armstrong World Industries, Bollman Hat, CNH Global, Conestoga Wood Specialties, Dart Container, High Industries, Lancaster Laboratories, Pepperidge Farm, R R Donnelley & Sons, The Hershey Company, Tyco Electronics, Tyson Foods, Warner-Lambert, and Yellow Transportation.[75]
Auntie Anne's, Clipper Magazine, Lancaster Farming, MapQuest, Turkey Hill Dairy, and Wilbur Chocolate Company are Lancaster County-based organizations with an economic footprint of regional or national significance.
Herley Industries is the third local defense contractor to face federal fraud charges in 20 years.[76]
Agriculture
With some of the most fertile soil in the U.S., Lancaster County has a strong farming industry.[77][78] Lancaster County's 5293 farms, generating $800 million in food, feed and fiber, are responsible for nearly a fifth of the state's agricultural output.[79] Chester County, with their high-value mushroom farms, is second, with $375 million.[80]
Livestock-raising is responsible for $710 million of that $800 million, with dairy accounting for $266 million, poultry and eggs accounting for $258 million. Cattle and swine each account for about $90 million.[79]
Agriculture is likely to remain an important part of Lancaster County: almost exactly half of Lancaster County's land - 320,000 acres - is zoned for agriculture, and 276,000 of those acres are "effective agricultural zoning", requiring at least 20 acres per residence.[81]
Tourism
Tourism is a significant industry in Lancaster County, employing 47,000.[82]
"I break for Shoofly Pie" is the new state tourism slogan.[83] Bumper stickers are available at Pennsylvania's 14 Welcome Centers.In the 1860's, articles in the Atlantic Monthly and Lippincott’s Magazine started tourism in Lancaster County right after the Civil War, but it didn't really take off until the 1920's, when the Lincoln Highway was built. A New York Times travel article in 1952 brought 25,000 visitors, and the 1955 Broadway musical Plain and Fancy brought even more, but tourism tapered off, after the 1974 gas rationing and the Three Mile Island incident led to five years of stagnation.[82]
Local tourism officials viewed it as deus ex machina when Hollywood stepped in to rescue their industry. Harrison Ford, in the popular 1985 movie Witness, played John Book, a Philadelphia detective who in turn played "Plain" in order to protect Samuel Lapp, an Old Order Amish boy who has witnessed a murder. Predictably, John Book falls in love with Rachel Lapp, the boy's widowed mother; the movie is less a thriller than a romance about the difficulties faced by an English man in love with a Plain widow.[84] The film was nominated for eight Oscars, and won two.[85] However, the real winner was Lancaster County tourism, as movie-goers found themselves intrigued by the Plain.
Once again, especially after the 9/11 attacks, tourism in Lancaster County has shifted. Instead of families arriving for a 3-4 day stay for a general visit, now tourists arrive for a specific event, whether it be the rhubarb festival, the "maize maze", to see Thomas the Tank Engine, for Sertoma's annual "World's Largest Chicken Barbecue" or for the latest show at Sight & Sound Theatres.[82] The tourism industry is discouraged by this change, but not despondent:
“ "In four years of working here on the Strasburg Rail Road, I’ve only had one complaint, she said that the ride is too short. People love Lancaster County. They’ll keep coming back." -- Betty McCormack[82] ”
One of the 29 covered bridges in Lancaster County.The county also promotes tourist visits to the county's numerous historic and picturesque covered bridges by publishing driving tours of the bridges.[86] At over 200 bridges still in existence, Pennsylvania has more covered bridges than anywhere else in the world, and at 29 covered bridges, Lancaster County has the largest share.[87]
The Lancaster County Convention Center Authority[2] is building a controversial $170 million[3] convention center in downtown Lancaster on the site of the former Watt & Shand building. The project's supporters believe it would promote the revitalization of the city's center. Its opponents, however, feel it poses an unacceptable risk to taxpayers[4].
Other tourist attractions include the American Music Theatre, Dutch Wonderland, Ephrata Cloister, Hans Herr House, Landis Valley Museum, Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Rock Ford plantation, Robert Fulton Birthplace, Sight & Sound Theatres, Strasburg Railroad, and Sturgis Pretzel House.
Municipalities
Cities
Lancaster is the only incorporated city in Lancaster County.
Boroughs
There are 18 boroughs in Lancaster County: Adamstown, Akron, Christiana, Columbia, Denver, East Petersburg, Elizabethtown, Ephrata, Lititz, Manheim, Marietta, Millersville, Mount Joy, Mountville, New Holland, Quarryville, Strasburg, and Terre Hill.
Townships
There are 41 townships in Lancaster County: Bart, Brecknock, Caernarvon, Clay, Colerain, Conestoga, Conoy, Drumore, Earl, East Cocalico, East Donegal, East Drumore, East Earl, East Hempfield, East Lampeter, Eden, Elizabeth, Ephrata, Fulton, Lancaster, Leacock, Little Britain, Manheim, Manor, Martic, Mount Joy, Paradise, Penn, Pequea, Providence, Rapho, Sadsbury, Salisbury, Strasburg, Upper Leacock, Warwick, West Cocalico, West Donegal, West Earl, West Hempfield, and West Lampeter.
Unincorporated communities and census-designated places
Census-designated places are geographical areas designated by the U.S. Census Bureau for the purposes of compiling demographic data. They are not actual jurisdictions under Pennsylvania law. Other unincorporated communities, such as villages, may be listed here as well.
Bareville, Bird-in-Hand, Brickerville, Brownstown, East Earl, Elm, Farmersville, Gap, Georgetown, Gordonville, Hempfield, Holtwood, Intercourse, Lampeter, Landisville, Leacock, Leacock-Leola-Bareville, Leola, Maytown, Neffsville, Nickel Mines, Paradise, Reamstown, Reinholds, Rheems, Rothsville, Ronks, Salunga, Salunga-Landisville, Silver Springs, Smoketown, Talmage, Washington Boro and Willow Street.
Education
The colleges of Lancaster County are Elizabethtown College, Franklin & Marshall College, Harrisburg Area Community College, Lancaster Bible College, Lancaster Theological Seminary, Millersville University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania College of Art and Design and Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology
There are 18 public school districts in the county: Cocalico, Columbia Borough, Conestoga Valley, Donegal, Eastern Lancaster County, Elizabethtown Area, Ephrata Area, Hempfield, Lampeter-Strasburg, Lancaster, Manheim Central, Manheim Township, Penn Manor, Pequea Valley, Solanco, and Warwick. There is also one charter school, the La Academia Charter School.
Sports
Team Sport League Championships Venue
Lancaster Barnstormers Baseball Atlantic League of Professional Baseball; South Division 1 (2006) Clipper Magazine Stadium
Before the Barnstormers, Lancaster was the home of the Lancaster Red Roses, which played from 1906 to about 1930, and from 1932 to 1961.[88] Since 2005, Lancaster County's only professional sports team is the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. The Barnstormers are named after the "barnstorming" players who played exhibition games in the county. Their official colors are navy blue, red, and khaki, the same as those of the Red Roses. This franchise won their first league championship in 2006, only their second season. They plan to revive the old baseball rivalry between Lancaster and nearby York, when the York Revolution starts their inaugural season in 2007.[89]
There was also a professional basketball team known as the Lancaster Red Roses (as well as the Lancaster Rockets and the Lancaster Lightning) which played in Lancaster between 1946 and 1980.[90]
Since 2004, the amateur Lancaster Lightning football team of the North American Football League has played at Pequea Valley High School's football stadium in Kinzers.[91] Beginning in 2006, the Lightning will also play at least one game per season at the Barnstormers' Clipper Magazine Stadium in downtown Lancaster.
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