Lancaster Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Lancaster Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Township
Wheatland (1828) James Buchanan House National Register of Historic Places
Map of Lancaster County highlighting Lancaster Township
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Lancaster
Settled	1717
Incorporated	1729
Government
• Type	Board of Supervisors
Area
• Total	6.0 sq mi (16 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total	16,149
• Density	2,314.9/sq mi (893.8/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Area code(s)	717
Website	Lancaster Township

Lancaster Township is a civil township of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is in the central area and it immediately surrounds Lancaster City. As of the 2010 census, the township population was 16,149.

Lancaster Township is one of the six immediate suburbs of the city of Lancaster, all sharing the same official designation as Lancaster, Pennsylvania, by the United States Postal Service.

Lancaster Township was established in 1729 as one of seventeen original townships in Lancaster County. It was the smallest of the townships with its boundaries being defined by the Conestoga River, Manor Township, the Little Conestoga Creek, (East) Hempfield Township, and Manheim Township. A two-mile square was later cut out of the northern part of Lancaster Township to create the county seat of Lancaster City.

The creation of the county caused an influx of people to come to Lancaster City, and Lancaster Township, its closest suburb, received many people too, with many people living here and working in the city. As Lancaster became larger and more prominent, larger roads and railroads needed to extend out to its suburbs, including Lancaster Township. The town even had its own canal, the Conestoga Navigation Canal on the Conestoga River.

Lancaster Township's growth was slow but steady, with about 150 people joining the community each decade prior to 1900. Since then, as the Industrial Revolution came to a close, Lancaster Township has been transformed into a mostly residential municipality.