Lancaster, city, seat of Lancaster County, southeastern Pennsylvania, on the Conestoga River, in the picturesque Pennsylvania Dutch country; incorporated as a city 1818. Lancaster is a center for widely diversified manufacturing and is situated in a productive agricultural region. Major manufactures include machinery, electronic equipment, health-care products, clothing, textiles, metal and wood products, watches, and printed materials. Government activities, tourism, and financial institutions are also important to the city's economy.
Lancaster is the site of Franklin and Marshall College (1787), Lancaster Theological Seminary (1825), and the Lancaster Bible College (1933). Points of interest include the Old City Hall (1795), the Fulton Opera House (1852), the North Museum and Planetarium, the Pennsylvania Farm Museum of Landis Valley, and a farmers market.
