Lancaster, Ohio

The earliest known inhabitants of the southeastern and central Ohio region were the Hopewell, Adena, and Fort Ancient Native Americans, of whom little evidence survived, beyond the burial and ceremonial mounds built throughout the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. Many mounds and burial sites have also yielded archaeological artifacts.Woodward, Susan L., and McDonald, Jerry N., Indian mounds of the middle Ohio Valley : a guide to mounds and earthworks of the Adena, Hopewell, Cole, and Fort Ancient people, University of Nebraska Press, 2002 Serpent Mound and Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, though not in Fairfield County, are nearby.

Before and immediately after European settlement, the land today comprising Lancaster and Fairfield County was inhabited by the Shawnee, nations of the Iroquois, Wyandot, and other Native American tribes. It served as a natural crossroads for the inter- and intra-tribal wars fought at various times.Garbarino, William M. Indian Wars along the Upper Ohio: a history of the Indian Wars and related events along the Upper Ohio and its tributaries Midway, Pennsylvania : Midway Pub., c2001. Frontier explorer Christopher Gist reached Lancaster's vicinity on January 19, 1751, when he visited the small Delaware town of Hockhocking nearby. Leaving the area the next day, Gist rode southwest to Maguck, another Delaware town near Circleville.

Having been ceded to the United States by Great Britain after the American Revolution in the Treaty of Paris, the lands north of the Ohio River and west of the Appalachian Mountains were incorporated into the Northwest Territory in 1787. White settlers began to encroach on Native American lands in the Northwest Territory. As the new United States government began to cast its eye westward, the stage was set for the series of campaigns that culminated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 and the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. With pioneer settlement within Ohio made legal and safe from Indian raids, developers began to speculate in land sales in earnest.

Knowing that such speculation, combined with congressional grants of land sections to veterans of the Revolution, could result in a lucrative opportunity, in 1796 Ebenezer Zane petitioned Congress to grant him a contract to blaze a trail through Ohio, from Wheeling, West Virginia, to Limestone, Kentucky (near modern Maysville, Kentucky), a distance of {{convert|266|mi|km}}. As part of the deal, Zane was awarded square-mile tracts of land at the points where his trace crossed the Hocking, Muskingum, and Scioto Rivers. Zane's Trace, as it is now known, was completed by 1797. As Zane's sons began to carve the square-mile tract astride the Hocking into saleable plots, the village of Lancaster was founded in 1800. Lancaster antedated the formal establishment of the state of Ohio by three years. Many villages and townships right outside Lancaster, such as Lithopolis, Royalton, and Greencastle, were settled around the same time, which contributed to the village's success.

Initially known as New Lancaster, and later shortened by city ordinance (1805), the town quickly grew; formal incorporation as a city came in 1831. The connection of the Hocking Canal to the Ohio and Erie Canal in this era provided a way for the region's rich agricultural produce to reach eastern markets.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

The initial settlers were predominantly German immigrants and their descendants, many from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Ohio's longest continuously operating newspaper, the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, was born of a merger of the early Ohio Adler, founded around 1807, with the Ohio Gazette, founded in the 1830s. The two papers were ferocious competitors since they were on opposite sides of the American Civil War{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}, with the Adler antislavery and pro-Union. The city also had numerous migrants from the Upper South who sympathized with the Confederacy{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}. The papers merged in 1937, 72 years after the war's end. This was shortly after the Gazette was acquired by glassmaker Anchor-Hocking. The newspaper is currently part of the Newspaper Network of Central Ohio, a unit of Gannett Company, Inc.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of {{convert|18.90|sqmi|sqkm|2}}, of which {{convert|0.06|sqmi|sqkm|2}} is covered by water.{{cite web|title=US Gazetteer files 2010 |url=https://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/files/Gaz_places_national.txt |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=2013-01-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120702145235/http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/files/Gaz_places_national.txt |archive-date=2012-07-02 }}

{{Weather box

| single line = Y

| location = Lancaster, Ohio, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1997–present

|Jan record high F = 72

|Feb record high F = 79

|Mar record high F = 86

|Apr record high F = 88

|May record high F = 92

|Jun record high F = 99

|Jul record high F = 100

|Aug record high F = 99

|Sep record high F = 97

|Oct record high F = 91

|Nov record high F = 81

|Dec record high F = 74

|Jan avg record high F = 62.5

|Feb avg record high F = 64.0

|Mar avg record high F = 74.3

|Apr avg record high F = 83.1

|May avg record high F = 89.3

|Jun avg record high F = 92.3

|Jul avg record high F = 93.1

|Aug avg record high F = 92.0

|Sep avg record high F = 91.3

|Oct avg record high F = 83.7

|Nov avg record high F = 72.4

|Dec avg record high F = 64.2

|year avg record high F = 94.2

| Jan high F =37.5

| Feb high F =41.3

| Mar high F =51.6

| Apr high F =64.8

| May high F =74.1

| Jun high F =82.0

| Jul high F =85.0

| Aug high F =84.1

| Sep high F =78.1

| Oct high F =65.8

| Nov high F =53.0

| Dec high F =41.8

| Jan mean F =29.5

| Feb mean F =32.6

| Mar mean F =41.7

| Apr mean F =53.0

| May mean F =63.0

| Jun mean F =71.6

| Jul mean F =74.9

| Aug mean F =73.4

| Sep mean F =66.5

| Oct mean F =54.7

| Nov mean F =43.2

| Dec mean F =34.4

| Jan low F =21.5

| Feb low F =24.0

| Mar low F =31.7

| Apr low F =41.2

| May low F =51.8

| Jun low F =61.1

| Jul low F =64.7

| Aug low F =62.7

| Sep low F =54.8

| Oct low F =43.5

| Nov low F =33.5

| Dec low F =26.9

|Jan avg record low F = 1.6

|Feb avg record low F = 3.9

|Mar avg record low F = 15.0

|Apr avg record low F = 25.4

|May avg record low F = 35.5

|Jun avg record low F = 48.3

|Jul avg record low F = 52.0

|Aug avg record low F = 50.4

|Sep avg record low F = 42.3

|Oct avg record low F = 28.3

|Nov avg record low F = 19.5

|Dec avg record low F = 10.6

|year avg record low F = -0.8

|Jan record low F = -12

|Feb record low F = -9

|Mar record low F = 2

|Apr record low F = 16

|May record low F = 28

|Jun record low F = 40

|Jul record low F = 41

|Aug record low F = 40

|Sep record low F = 31

|Oct record low F = 18

|Nov record low F = 11

|Dec record low F = -7

| precipitation colour = green

| Jan precipitation inch =2.86

| Feb precipitation inch =2.32

| Mar precipitation inch =3.40

| Apr precipitation inch =3.93

| May precipitation inch =4.17

| Jun precipitation inch =4.08

| Jul precipitation inch =4.22

| Aug precipitation inch =3.37

| Sep precipitation inch =3.22

| Oct precipitation inch =3.07

| Nov precipitation inch =2.69

| Dec precipitation inch =2.85

|unit precipitation days = 0.01 in

|Jan precipitation days = 9.8

|Feb precipitation days = 9.8

|Mar precipitation days = 10.4

|Apr precipitation days = 11.2

|May precipitation days = 11.4

|Jun precipitation days = 10.7

|Jul precipitation days = 10.0

|Aug precipitation days = 9.2

|Sep precipitation days = 7.8

|Oct precipitation days = 9.5

|Nov precipitation days = 8.3

|Dec precipitation days = 10.4

| source = NOAA (mean maxima/minima 2006–2020){{cite web |url=https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/us-climate-normals/#dataset=normals-monthly&timeframe=30&station=USC00334403 |title=NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals Quick Access |publisher=NOAA |access-date=July 8, 2022 }}

{{cite web

|url = https://www.weather.gov/wrh/climate?wfo=iln

|publisher = National Weather Service

|title = NOAA Online Weather Data – NWS Wilmington OH

|access-date = February 18, 2023

}}

}}

{{US Census population

|1820= 1037

|1830= 1530

|1840= 3272

|1850= 3483

|1860= 4308

|1870= 4725

|1880= 6803

|1890= 7555

|1900= 8991

|1910= 13093

|1920= 14706

|1930= 18716

|1940= 21940

|1950= 24180

|1960= 29916

|1970= 32911

|1980= 34925

|1990= 34507

|2000= 35335

|2010= 38780

|2020= 40552

|footnote=Sources:{{cite web|title=Number of Inhabitants: Ohio|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1960/population-volume-1/37749282v1p37_ch02.pdf|date=1960|work=18th Census of the United States|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=17 May 2020}}{{cite web|title=Ohio: Population and Housing Unit Counts|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen1990/cph2/cph-2-37.pdf|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=17 May 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=2008-01-31|title=U.S. Census website}}

}}

File:Romanesque Building in Lancaster, Ohio.JPG

The city's median household income was $44,794 and median family income was $59,930. Males had a median income of $36,169 versus $24,549 for females. The city's per capita income was $25,230. About 12.0% of all families (4.4% of married-couple families), and 16.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.0% of those under age 18 and 10.0% of those over 65.{{Cite web |title=Explore Census Data |url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=Lancaster%20city,%20Fairfield%20County,%20Ohio&tid=ACSST5Y2020.S1701 |access-date=2022-05-26 |website=data.census.gov}}

As of the 2020 United States census, 40,438 people, 16,451 households, and 9,951 families were residing in the city. The population density was {{convert|2,058.3|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|people |people}}. The 18,250 housing units had an average density of {{convert|879.6|/mi2|/km2}}. The racial makeup of the city was 92.5% White, 1.8% African American, 0.3% Asian, 0.20% Native American, 0.2% from other races, and 5.0% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 1.8% of the population.

Of the 16,451 households, 30.9% had children under 18 living with them, 43.7% were married couples living together, 12.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.5% were not families. About 31.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.3% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.39, and the average family size was 2.97.

In the city, the age distribution was 22.3% under 18, and 17.4% who were 65 or older. The median age was 39.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.3 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 88.6 males.

As of the census of 2010, 38,780 people, 16,048 households, and 9,937 families resided in the city. The population density was {{convert|1,955.9|/mi2|/km2|disp=preunit|people |people}}. The 17,685 housing units had an average density of {{convert|879.6|/mi2|/km2}}. The racial makeup of the city was 95.9% White, 1.0% African American, 0.5% Asian, 0.30% Native American, 0.6% from other races, and 1.7% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 1.6% of the population.

Of the 16,048 households, 27.8% had children under 18 living with them, 42.4% were married couples living together, 14.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.1% were not families. About 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.8% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.36, and the average family size was 2.95.

In the city, the age distribution was 24% under the age of 18 and 15.7% who were 65 or older. The median age was 37.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.6 males.

According to the city's 2021 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,{{Cite web|url=https://www.ci.lancaster.oh.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/5139|title=City of Lancaster CAFR}} Lancaster's top employers are:

Lancaster is home to the Fairfield County Fair,{{cite web|url=http://www.fairfieldcountyfair.com/|title=The 168th Fairfield County Fair – October 7-13, 2018|website=www.fairfieldcountyfair.com|access-date=6 April 2018}} a weeklong fair and the last (88th) county fair in Ohio each year, always in the second week of October. It features a variety of attractions, including truck, tractor, and horse pulls, demolition derbies, concerts, bands, and horse races. The Fairfield County Fair also includes food, animals, exhibits, games, and rides for people of all ages.

AHA! is a children's museum founded in 2006. Its mission is to provide a hands-on, interactive, playful, and educational environment that invites curiosity, allows exploration, encourages participation, and celebrates the child-like wonder in everyone.{{cite web|title=AHA! A Hands-On Adventure|url=http://www.aha4kids.org|access-date=9 May 2011}}

Originally built in 1832 for the Maccracken Family, this Federal-style home is constructed predominantly of brick and local limestone. Converted into a museum, it is now furnished as it would have been in the 1830s with some original pieces and numerous early Fairfield County items. Located in one of Lancaster's three national historic districts, the structure mixes elements of American, Georgian, and Regency architecture.{{cite web|url=http://www.thegeorgianmuseum.org/|title=The Georgian Museum|access-date=6 March 2011}}

The Decorative Arts Center of Ohio is a nonprofit museum whose mission is to foster knowledge and appreciation of the decorative arts, celebrate the architecture and heritage of the Reese-Peters House, and enhance historic Lancaster's vitality and integrity. It provides exhibitions, public programs, art classes, and workshops for all ages, and a focus for research and communication about the decorative arts of Ohio.{{cite web|title=The Decorative Arts Center of Ohio|url=http://www.decartsohio.org/|access-date=9 May 2011}}

Opened in 2002, the Ohio Glass Museum is in historic downtown Lancaster and dedicated to recording the history of the glass industry, which for over 100 years has been one of the mainstays of Fairfield County's economy.{{cite web|title=Ohio Glass Museum|url=http://www.ohioglassmuseum.org|access-date=9 May 2011}}

{{main|John Sherman Birthplace}}

Lancaster was the birthplace of Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman and his brother, Senator John Sherman. The house where they were born, built in 1811, has been converted into a museum, housing articles related to General Sherman's life and Civil War artifacts. The Sherman family expanded the frame house in 1816 and again, with an additional brick front, in 1870.{{cite web|url=http://www.shermanhouse.org/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020123133222/http://www.shermanhouse.org/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2002-01-23|title=Sherman House Museum|access-date=2011-03-05}}

The Robert K Fox Family YMCA Swim Team (LYST, or Lancaster YMCA Swim Team), is a competitive, year-round swim team coached by Axel Birnbrich and a team of experienced assistant coaches. Birnbirch is in his 39th year of coaching and his second year at LYST. The team has swimmers from ages 5–18 and around 130 members per year. They regularly attend the YMCA Short Course and Long Course national meets. They are also a USA Swimming team, attending many USA meets per season.{{Cite web|url=https://www.teamunify.com/team/ohlys/page/home|title=Lancaster YMCA Stingrays Home|website=www.teamunify.com}}

The city's main shopping district is centered around River Valley Mall, or downtown Lancaster.

Lancaster City School District operates Lancaster High School.{{cite web | url=http://www.lancaster.k12.oh.us | title=Homepage | publisher=Lancaster City School District | access-date=25 February 2018}} Lancaster has a public library, a branch of the Fairfield County District Library.{{cite web | url=https://www.fcdlibrary.org/locations/ | title=Hours & Locations | date=13 February 2014 | publisher=Fairfield County District Library | access-date=25 February 2018}} Additionally, Ohio University-Lancaster is a branch campus of Ohio University that operates in the area.

Lancaster has a daily newspaper, the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette.

Lancaster has a monthly magazine, the Lancaster Living Magazine, published by Cher Jaurigue.

Lancaster is the birthplace and/or hometown of:

• Allan Anderson, Major League Baseball pitcher, American League ERA leader 1988{{cite web|url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=anderal02|title=Allan Anderson Baseball Stats by Baseball Almanac|first=Baseball Almanac|last=Inc.|website=www.baseball-almanac.com|access-date=6 April 2018}}
• Mark Baltz, NFL official, 1989–2013
• Jim Brideweser, Major League Baseball player
• Bobby Carpenter, NFL player Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions, New England Patriots
• Rob Carpenter, NFL player, New York Giants, Houston Oilers
• Gene Cole, 1952 Olympic silver medalist – 4 x 400 metre relay
• Jim Cordle, NFL player, New York Giants
• Hugh Boyle Ewing, Union Army Major General
• Thomas Ewing, first Secretary of the Interior, appointed by President Zachary Taylor
• Thomas Ewing, Jr., Union Army brigadier general, defender of Abraham Lincoln assassination conspirators
• Malcolm Forbes, publisher of Forbes magazine who ran a local Lancaster newspaper in 1941{{cite web| url = http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20082678,00.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140413125852/http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20082678,00.html| archive-date = 2014-04-13| title = Malcolm Forbes : People.com}}
• Bill Glassford, football player and coach
• David Graf, actor, is best known as Sgt. Eugene Tackleberry in the Police Academy series of films.
• Robert G. Heft, designer of the current 50-star flag of the United States adopted by the Congress in 1960
• Edward Gerard Hettinger, auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus
• James A. Hill, retired U.S. Air Force general and former vice chief of staff of the Air Force
• George King Hunter, U.S. Army brigadier general, born in Lancaster{{Cite book |title=Generals in Khaki |last=Davis |first=Henry Blaine Jr. |publisher=Pentland Press |location=Raleigh, NC |year=1998 |pages=192 |isbn=978-1-5719-7088-6 |id=D507.D281998 |ref={{sfnRef|Davis}}}}
• James Hyde Actor, Model and Dancer, known for his role as Sam Bennett on the soap opera Passions
• Rex Kern, football quarterback, Ohio State Buckeyes football 1968 national championship team
• Brannon Kidder, professional middle-distance runner
• Augustus Roy Knabenshue, American aeronautical engineer and aviator, manager of Wright Exhibition Team
• James A. Lantz, lawyer and Ohio state legislator
• Clarence E. Miller, a Republican congressman from Ohio, serving January 3, 1967 to January 3, 1993
• Marc Wolfgang Miller, author, explorer, known for his cryptozoology expeditions
• Mary Murphy, ballroom dance champion and accredited dance judge
• Joe Ogilvie, PGA golfer
• Richard F. Outcault, cartoonist and creator of Yellow Kid and Buster Brown
• Jacob Parrott, first recipient of the Medal of Honor
• Cora Rigby, first woman at a major paper to head a Washington news bureau
• John Sherman, U.S. senator, Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury
• William Tecumseh Sherman, Union Army and U.S. Army general and General of the Army of the United States
• Henry Stanbery, Attorney General, defender of President Andrew Johnson at his impeachment trial
• Rebecca Harrell Tickell, actress, best known as Jessica Riggs in the 1989 film Prancer
• Patricia A. Weitsman, international relations scholar

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.ci.lancaster.oh.us/ City website]
• [http://www.visitfairfieldcounty.org/ Fairfield County Visitors & Convention Bureau]
• [https://www.destinationdowntownlancaster.com/ Destination Downtown Lancaster]

{{Fairfield County, Ohio}}

{{Ohio county seats}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:County seats in Ohio

Category:Cities in Ohio

Category:Cities in Fairfield County, Ohio

Category:Populated places established in 1800

Category:German-American culture in Ohio

Category:English-American culture in Ohio

Category:1800 establishments in the Northwest Territory