LANCASTER

Patrick Sullivan purchased from the Government the land now occupied by the town of Lancaster, this was done in the year 1838. Sullivan came to the county about the time he made the purchase and a few years later he secured a post office named for himself, Patricksburg. The nearest settlement at that time was in Clay county, so Mr Sullivan decided that a town would be necessary. So on the 20th day of June 1851, he laid out the village on the northwest quarter of Section 15 and named it Lancaster. The original plat shows eight blocks and thiry nine lots. Prior to the platting of the village, a number of dwellings had already been built on this site and later they became the center of the village. Business men and mechanics were soon attracted to the village and it soon gained the reputation of a prominent trading point for supplies.

Among the first merchants to offer a sale of wares were Kelly and John Baumgartner. They sold goods for five year and later sold to Williams & Rice, who six years later sold to William Royer. Mr Royer kept the business for about twelve years and sold out to a man named Haas. Royer moved for a short time to Franklin township and later returned to Lancaster to run a hotel business.

Other merchants who did business in the village during the early days were Black & Harrison; A.M. Manning; John Travis; Dr. Dean; J.B. Hoffman; and John Hochstetler. A saw mill was built in the south part of town about 1852 by J. Biddle who later sold to Stephen Maegerlein. Mr. Maegerlein built a steam grist mill later. An interest in the mill was purchased by a man named Drake, who in turn sold it to Mr. Jones who in turn sold it to William Royer, mentioned above. Mr Royer ran this mill until about 1880 when he built a new one.

A spoke factory was started in the year 1881 by Silas Harrison, in addition to these, in the late 1880's there were in the village; three saw mills, two planing mills, and one shingle factory. Messrs Craft & Coats were proprietors of a tannery which was started about 1873, it was later purchased by Lewis Geckler.

Other businesses include: Williams & Drake, drugstore; Royer & Haas, general store; Coats & Schmaltz, general store; L. F. Lautenschlager, drug store; Fred Schmaltz and Henry Shepper, grocery stores; Martha Harstine, millinery store, Merrell & Beatty, hardware; Gottlieb Keiser, Mr. Harris, Christopher Weber and Jacob Rentsler, blacksmiths; George Keiser and Christopher Rentsler, wagonmakers; John C McGill and Joseph Zinkler, cabinet makers.

Men who have practiced medicine in the village are: Dr. Hunt; R.B. McAlister; Lewis Red; William Williams; J.B. Hoffman; Robert Black; Samuel Richards, John Williams, John Sloan and L. Mullenix.

The Masonic Lodge # 558 was created on September 17, 1881 with the charter members: E. F. Harold, T. M. Harold, S. C. Phillips, A. Wright and J. A. Ralston.

The Lancaster News, a small advertising sheet was started in 1875 by William Travis who later sold out to Messrs. Rice & Nugent. William Travis later became editor of the Clay City Independent.

The first schoolhouse in Lancaster was a frame building and stood in the east part of town. It was in use until about 1865 when a larger one was built in the northern part of town.