LANCASTER’S BEGINNINGS
To look even briefly at the history of Lancaster County is to glimpse illustrious people and important events that are at the center of America’s development as a nation.
A part of Penn’s Woods, chartered to William Penn in 1681, this area’s first permanent colony was established soon after 1700 by Swiss Mennonites led by Hans Herr. German Menn-onites, French Huguenots, Welsh and English (many of whom were Quakers), and Scots-Irish soon followed.
At first a part of Chester County, the area became a separate county in 1729, the fourth in Pennsylvania. It was named Lancaster by John Wright, one of the first settlers, for his native Lancashire, England.
As early as 1721 the principal settlement was known as Hickory Town, for George Gibson’s “Hickory Tree” tavern. The community was located on a 500-acre tract owned by Andrew Hamilton, on which he laid out Lancaster Townstead in 1730. In 1742, Andrew’s son James secured the original charter of government, which gave the settlement the status of borough. (This charter can be found today in the city clerk’s office.) Lancaster was incorporated as a city in 1818 and designated a third class city in 1924. Its original boundaries, set in 1742, extended one mile in each direction from Penn Square and remained fixed until a series of annexations began in 1947.
From the beginning of white settlement, local Indian tribes, most notably the Susquehannocks, engaged in trade with the settlers, until the area was dotted with busy, prosperous trading posts.
In 1744, Indian chiefs throughout the East came to Lancaster to meet with colonial officials and sign a treaty guaranteeing loyalty to the English in the French War of 1744-48.
Lancaster’s strategic location plus the prosperous Indian trade made the area a natural gateway to the West. For years Conestoga wagons, developed in Lancaster, passed through the area carrying freight to settlers across the Alleghenies.
Rock Ford, home of General Edward Hand
By 1789, Lancaster was the largest inland city in the country, with a population of some 4,200. It also had the distinction of serving as the nation’s capital when the Continental Congress, fleeing from the English, met in Lancaster on September 27, 1777. From 1799 until 1812, it served as the state’s capital.
Illustrious residents of Lancaster County have included: George Ross, a signer of the Declaration of Independence; General Edward Hand, who settled in Lancaster and practiced medicine after the Revolutionary War; Thaddeus Stevens, whose opposition to slavery was felt throughout Congress; Robert Fulton; and President James Buchanan.
Artisans here developed the Pennsylvania rifle, popularly but mistakenly called the Kentucky rifle; William (“Baron”) Stiegel produced his beautiful Stiegel glass in Manheim; artist Charles Demuth painted masterpieces in his home and gardens on East King Street; and cannons and ammunition were produced for the Revolution at Windsor Forge and Martic Forge.
In Lititz, pretzels became a distinctive, major product; and throughout the county silk production was an important industry during the eighteenth century.
From the first, agriculture was a vital part of Lancaster County’s economy. Although grains such as barley and wheat were the main crops originally, the rich, fertile soil was suitable for growing almost everything, and over the years farming became more diversified as tobacco, market vegetables, corn, alfalfa, and tomatoes became major crops.
Dairy cattle and poultry also contributed to the county’s standing as the wealthiest agricultural county in the country. The balance between farming and industry has been a major factor in maintaining the stable economy which has marked Lancaster County’s history for over two and a half centuries.
