Lancaster, California
| Lancaster, California | ||
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| Charter city | ||
| City of Lancaster | ||
Sunset over Lancaster, California
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| Motto: It's Positively Clear | ||
 Location of Lancaster in California and Los Angeles County |
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 Lancaster
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| Coordinates: 34°41′N 118°9′W / 34.683°N 118.150°WCoordinates: 34°41′N 118°9′W / 34.683°N 118.150°W | ||
| Country |
 United States
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| State |
 California
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| County |
 Los Angeles
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| Incorporated | November 22, 1977 | |
| Government | ||
| • Type | Council-manager | |
| • Mayor | R. Rex Parris | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 94.547 sq mi (244.876 km2) | |
| • Land | 94.276 sq mi (244.175 km2) | |
| • Water | 0.271 sq mi (0.701 km2) 0.29% | |
| Elevation | 2,359 ft (719 m) | |
| Population (April 1, 2010) | ||
| • Total | 156,633 | |
| • Estimate (2013) | 159,523 | |
| • Rank |
5th in Los Angeles County 31st in California |
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| • Density | 1,700/sq mi (640/km2) | |
| Time zone | Pacific (UTC-8) | |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) | |
| ZIP codes | 93534–93536, 93539, 93584 | |
| Area code | 661 | |
| FIPS code | 06-40130 | |
| GNIS feature IDs | 1652741, 2411620 | |
| Website | www |
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Lancaster /ˈlæn.kæstər/ is a charter city in northern Los Angeles County, in the Antelope Valley of the western Mojave Desert in Southern California. As of 2013, Lancaster was the 31st largest city in California. Lancaster is part of a twin city complex with its southern neighbor Palmdale and together they are the principal cities within the Antelope Valley region and California's High Desert.
Lancaster is located approximately 70 miles (110 km) north (by highway) of downtown Los Angeles, near the Kern County line. It is separated from the Los Angeles Basin by the San Gabriel Mountains to the south, and from Bakersfield and the San Joaquin Valley by the Tehachapi Mountains to the north. The population of Lancaster grew from 37,000 at the time of its incorporation in 1977 to over 156,000 in 2010. According to the Greater Antelope Valley Economic Alliance report of 2015, Lancaster has a population of 168,049.
The area where Lancaster is now located, known as the Antelope Valley, was originally home to the Paiute Indians. Lancaster's origins as a settlement start with the Southern Pacific Railroad, which is believed to first use the name Lancaster, where a station house, locomotive watering facilities and section gang housing were built when the railroad laid track through the town's future location. In 1876 the Southern Pacific completed the line through the Antelope Valley, linking San Francisco and Los Angeles. The origin of Lancaster's name is unclear, attributed variously to the surname of a railroad station clerk, the moniker given by railroad officials, or the former Pennsylvania home (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) of unknown settlers. Train service brought passengers through the water-stop-turned-community, which, with the help of promotional literature, attracted new settlers. The person credited with formally developing the town is Moses Langley Wicks, who in 1884 bought property from the railroad for $2.50 per acre, mapped out a town with streets and lots, and by September was advertising 160-acre tracts of land for $6 an acre. The following year, the Lancaster News started publication, making it the first weekly newspaper in the Antelope Valley. By 1890, Lancaster was bustling and booming, and thanks to adequate rainfall, farmers planted and sold thousands of acres of wheat and barley.
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