Lancaster

Formed May 10, 1729 (4^th county)

Lancaster County (552,969), Lancaster (58,051)

The columns stand out on the Greek Revival 1852 masonry facility.  It has been remodeled and added to in 1898, 1920, 1928, and 1975.  The facility is on Duke Street between Grant and Orange streets.  United States Highway 222 passes four blocks west of the site.  Samuel Sloan provided the building designs.  The county was an original county (4^th county) formed on May 10, 1729 with Lancaster as the only county seat.  Lancaster County and its county seat are named for Lancashire, England.  Lancaster County is the birthplace of 2 Pennsylvania governors, Simon Snyder and William C. Sproul. 

Lancaster County government consists of a sheriff and 3 Commissioners.  Seventeen Common Pleas Court Judges and Nineteen Magistrate Court Judges serve Lancaster County.  The county is in southeastern Pennsylvania.  Maryland is on its southern border.  The Susquehanna River forms its western border.  Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is northwest and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is east of the county.  The county center is 7.3 miles East of Lancaster nearer Bird in Hand.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Berks and Chester counties and Maryland and York, Dauphin, and Lebanon counties. 

The area of the county is 984 square miles.  It is 11 out of 67 in the state.  It ranks 6 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 562.0 persons per square mile making it 9 out of 67 in the state.  Lancaster County has 28.7% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 76 crosses east to west in the northern part of the county from Berks County to Lebanon County.  United States Highway 30 goes east to west from Chester County to York County.  United States Highway 222 enters from the northeast, Berks County and exits to the south, Maryland.  United States Highway 322 parallels Interstate Highway 76 from Chester to Lebanon counties.  James Buchanan, the 15^th President, is buried in this county.  The county resembles a funnel.  The City of Lancaster is in the western third of the county.  Lancaster is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 10.5% of the county population.  The county and county seat are pronounced LAN-KI-STER.  This county is in the Lancaster Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Adamstown