Main Street, Lancaster, Ohio

Main Street in Lancaster, Ohio 1870 showing the Mithoff House. Lancaster was settled by many people of German descent traveling through Pennsylvania. In the early 1800s there was even a newspaper printed in German. Lancaster was quite successful economically, being home to numerous places of business. This would be helped along by a railroad being built in 1854, and numerous canals. While the primary source of income was originally farming, production of commercial goods would soon expand the economy. Lancaster was also the birth place of William T. Sherman, who came to be a famous figure in U.S. history for his role as a general in the American Civil War