Lancaster, city, seat of Fairfield County, south central Ohio, on the Hocking River; incorporated as a city 1831. It is a trade center for a farm region in which beef and dairy cattle and hogs are raised. Manufactures include electric equipment, machinery, glassware, footwear, and motor-vehicle parts. Ohio University-Lancaster (1968), a junior college, and the birthplace (now a museum) of the American Civil War general William T. Sherman and his brother U.S. Senator John Sherman are here. Many picturesque covered bridges are nearby. The community was founded in 1800 by Ebenezer Zane, a pioneer from Wheeling, West Virginia, and named New Lancaster for Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The name was shortened to Lancaster in 1805. Population 34,953 (1980); 34,507 (1990); 35,335 (2000).
