Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1801.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lancaster’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lancaster is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #23 of 142 in Kentucky. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lancaster’s overall grade.
Kentucky towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Kentucky town has 29.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Lancaster’s 199 sits above most of its state (81% of Kentucky towns have fewer) while its 80 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.8 points). Two sources give 1797.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Lancaster’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
In 1797, Captain William Buford donated land for the establishment of a town around the site of Major Andrew Wallace's settlement at Wallace Crossroads. The surveying and platting was completed over the next year by Joseph Bledsoe Jr., and the community was named "Lancaster" for the Pennsylvania town, either because one of its settlers came from there or because the town was designed on a similar plan. The post office was established in 1801 and operated under the name "Lancaster Court House" until 1811. The city was formally incorporated by the state assembly in 1837.
Lancaster was briefly occupied by the Confederate States of America before being expelled after the Battle of Perryville.
Passages that mention Lancaster, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A history of the feud between the Hill and Evans parties of Garrard County, Ky. The most exciting tragedy ever enacted on the bloody grounds of Kentucky1854Read the page →
Read the text
Lancaster, Garrard County. Ky., May 4th. 1854. ' .• I, Edward Cooke, of the town of Lancaster and county of Garrard in the State of Kentucky, a native horn citizen of said place, aged twenty-four years, and never resident elsewhere, do certify that so long as I have been acquainted with Dr. Hezekiah Evans, personally for many years and by reputation as long as my memory extends into the past, I have never heard aught said by friend or too that would in the least tend to the disparagement, of his character.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A history of the feud between the Hill and Evans parties of Garrard County, Ky. The most exciting tragedy ever enacted on the bloody grounds of Kentucky1854Read the page →
Read the text
ance. Through the instrumentality of the Hill and Salter families, the idea of a steam-doctor bringing a suit of indebitatus assumpsit on a medical account, produced quite a little excitement in the famous town of Lancaster. It made all the old revolutionary doctors wink and blink and shrug up their shoulders, while the young diploma-pill-bags ogled wisely and pulled down the corners of their mouths, as if to say, “ you can ’t come it , old fogy” The two learned lawyers employed on the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Lancaster, 1797 to 1952
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1797, according to Wikidata. Lancaster’s post office opened in 1801, and the census of 1800 counted 103 people here.
How does Lancaster rank for history?
Lancaster is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #23 of 142 in Kentucky. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Lancaster?
26 listings: 24 buildings, among them the Gov. William O. Bradley House (listed 1974, the first), 1 historic district, the Lancaster Commercial Historic District, with 49 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 80 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Lancaster?
13% of Lancaster’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Kentucky town; the median home was built in 1968.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (26), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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