The City That Was America's Capital for Just One Day

For one day in 1777, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was the capital of the United States. The Second Continental Congress had already finished its meeting for the day on September 18, 1777, when a letter arrived for its president, John Hancock. It came from Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton and said that Congress should leave Philadelphia right away, because British troops could enter the city that night.

The message started an early-morning exodus. Over the next week, more than two dozen delegates traveled west to Lancaster with a collection of important government papers. They took a winding route to avoid being seen. John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, that they traveled nearly 180 miles when the most direct road was not more than 88 miles.

Congress met in the Lancaster courthouse on September 27. The meeting lasted only a few hours, and the delegates talked about everyday business linked to the fight for independence from Great Britain. Near the end, they decided to move farther west, to York, across the Susquehanna River. They realized it had not been hard for them to get to Lancaster, so it would not be hard for the British either. As Stephanie Townrow of the museum LancasterHistory puts it, Lancaster's short time as the capital was over almost as quickly as it began.

Lancaster is one of just nine American cities that have been the U.S. capital. They are Philadelphia, Baltimore, Lancaster, York, Princeton, Annapolis, Trenton, New York City and Washington, D.C. The capital last moved in 1800, when Congress went from Philadelphia to Washington. Later, three Midwestern congressmen suggested moving it to St. Louis, which is closer to the center of the country, but the bill did not get past the House of Representatives.

Few people in Lancaster noticed its day as capital in 1777. Townrow says it was very unimportant in the bigger picture of those years. Today, however, the city is proud of it. Adam Zurn, who wrote a book about it, says that makes Lancaster a member of a very exclusive club. The city even holds a yearly Capital Day celebration.