BlockBefore

Lancaster, Kentucky

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1905 and the latest in 1991. It stands in the Lancaster census division. It lies in ZIP code area 40444. The Survey maps it on the Lancaster quadrangle. 3,899 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,027 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Lancaster within Garrard County

On record in Lancaster

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 12 of 52 shown

Every listing in Garrard County

Population over time

2 figures

Lancaster grew from 3,442 to 3,899 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20103,442
20203,899+457 (+13%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 12 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

2 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Lancaster between 2003 and 2005, burning about 2 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
3 April 2003Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
11 November 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Garrard County

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Lancaster: 1 occurrence. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Fluorine-Fluorite, Lead, Zinc, Barium-Barite. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
John Burdette DepositFluorine-Fluorite, Lead, Zinc, Barium-BariteOccurrence

Every working recorded in Garrard County

Storms near this place

45 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lancaster in 45 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 29 thunderstorm wind, 9 flash flood, 5 hail, 2 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2009Thunderstorm WindLancaster$30,000A metal and wooden barn was destroyed along with several greenhouses. Trees and power lines were down near 1295 and Gillespie with damage to a house.
August 2013Flash FloodLancaster$20,000Five hundred feet of Highway 1150 was washed away by flash flooding between mile markers 0 and 1.
May 2010Flash FloodLancaster$20,000There were several houses with water in the basement. Bethel Christian Church had 6 feet of water inside.
May 2007Flash FloodLancaster$10,000A spotter estimated from two and a half to three inches of rain over a 30 minute period. Drakes Creek Road flooded and lost blacktop in two locations. Three people were trapped in a pickup truck. A metal outbuilding was washed away.
August 2014Thunderstorm WindLancaster$2,000A spotter reported that thunderstorm winds partially removed the roof off of a barn. Many large tree limbs were downed as well.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindLancaster-Trees were blown down across Sugar Creek Road near the intersection of Lexington Road.
May 2025Thunderstorm WindLancaster-A tree was blown down across the 200 block of Lexington Road in Lancaster.
December 2025Thunderstorm WindLancaster-A tree was blown down near the intersection of Kentucky Route 52 and Boones Creek Road.
July 2021Flash FloodLancaster-Water was over Crab Orchard Road.
December 2021Thunderstorm WindLancaster-Trees were reported down on Wesley Drive. The area had three rounds of storms from 1 to 7 AM. It is estimated that the last wave of storms caused this damage.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindLancaster-Dispatch reported trees down 2 miles north of Lancaster.
November 2019Flash FloodLancaster-Broadcast media and county dispatch reported high water was over county roads.
June 2018FloodLancaster-A little water was over Old Danville Road.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindLancaster-Trees down at Richmond Street and South Campbell Street.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindLancaster-The public reported trees down at the local elementary school.
May 2016Thunderstorm WindLancaster-Local law enforcement reported trees down in the area.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindLancaster-State officials reported trees and limbs down on power lines.
July 2016Flash FloodLancaster-Local law enforcement reported high water over Richmond Road in Lancaster.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindLancaster-Local law enforcement reported a few trees down in the town of Lancaster due to severe thunderstorm winds.
April 2015HailLancaster-Golf ball size was reported in Lancaster by the public.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindLancaster-A Garrard County law enforcement official reported that numerous trees were down across the county. There were no reports of structural damage.
May 2014Thunderstorm WindLancaster-A bow echo downed multiple trees across the county, including some in Lancaster.
May 2013HailLancaster-Local broadcast media relayed a report of one inch hail in Lancaster.
August 2013Flash FloodLancaster-The Lancaster Fire Dept. reported that Crab Orchard Road was briefly closed due to flash flooding. Buckeye Road was also partially impeded by high water.
August 2013FloodLancaster-A Garrard County official reported some minor flooding issues across the county, although no roads were closed.
August 2013Thunderstorm WindLancaster-Law enforcement from Lancaster reported a few trees down around the town.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindLancaster-A county official reported trees down near Danville Road, State Highway 52, Polly's Bend Road, and Kennedy Bridge Road.
April 2011Thunderstorm WindLancaster-Trees and power lines were blown down just south of Lancaster.
June 2009Thunderstorm WindLancaster-Trees were downed throughout the county.
April 2007Thunderstorm WindLancaster-Numerous trees were downed county wide.
July 2004Thunderstorm WindLancaster-Trees and power lines were blown down.
June 2002Thunderstorm WindLancaster-Trees and power lines were downed.
May 2002Flash FloodLancaster-Water covered Old Danville Road west of Lancaster in several locations.
March 2017HailLancaster-no account filed
January 2008HailLancaster-no account filed
October 2007Thunderstorm WindLancaster-no account filed
July 2005Thunderstorm WindLancaster-no account filed
August 2004Thunderstorm WindLancaster-no account filed
May 2003HailLancaster-no account filed
October 2001Thunderstorm WindLancaster-no account filed
September 2000Thunderstorm WindLancaster-no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindLancaster-no account filed
June 1998Thunderstorm WindLancaster-no account filed
May 1996Flash FloodLancaster-no account filed
July 1996Thunderstorm WindLancaster-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Garrard County

Newspapers printed here

8,656 digitised pages

1 paper published in this town, digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 1,292 issues, 8,656 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.

NewspaperPublished
The Central Record18?? to Current

What the paper printed

22,290 words

Front pages of the local paper, read from the Library of Congress scans: 6 issues spread across its run from 1898 to 1922, 22,290 words in total. Each is reproduced on its own page, exactly as the recogniser returned it.

These pages read less well than anything else here, and the number is worth stating: about three words in four come through cleanly, against nine in ten for the building records. An 1896 broadsheet sets eight-point type in seven columns on microfilm, which is the hardest thing in this archive to read by machine. We tested our own recognisers against the Library's and they were not better, so the Library's text is what appears, with the wholly unreadable columns removed. Read it as a guide to what the paper covered, and follow the link to the scan before quoting anything.

IssuePaper Length
1898-01-07The Central Record4,984 words
1898-03-25The Central Record3,261 words
1898-06-17The Central Record3,263 words
1898-09-02The Central Record3,317 words
1898-11-24The Central Record3,457 words
1922-12-28The Central Record4,008 words

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Hyattsville3.1 miles12
Guy (historical)3.4 miles10
Judson4.6 miles10
Point Leavell4.7 miles14
Marksbury4.8 miles13
McCreary4.9 miles10
Three Forks4.9 miles10
Hackley5.7 miles15

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on LancasterAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2536779The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 495946. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.