Conestoga () is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in Conestoga Township, Lancaster County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 1,163. The Conestoga post office serves ZIP code 17516.

History

Conestoga refers to the Conestoga people, the English name for the

Susquehannock The Susquehannock, also known as the Conestoga, Minquas, and Andaste, were an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian people who lived in the lower Susquehanna River watershed in what is now Pennsylvania. Their name means “people of the muddy river.” T ...

who had inhabited the area before European settlement. The name is thought to have been derived from ''kanastoge'' meaning "at the place of the immersed pole." The name was also used for the Conestoga River which forms the northern boundary of Conestoga Township, and for Conestoga Manor, a large tract of land reserved by

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

that was located north of the river in what is now Manor Township. Conestoga also referred to a succession of Susquehannock settlements located within Conestoga Manor. In 1763, the last of these settlements was destroyed and its inhabitants massacred by the

Paxton Boys The Paxton Boys, also known as the Paxtang Boys or the Paxton Rangers, were a mob of settlers that murdered 20 unarmed Conestoga in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in December 1763. This group of vigilantes from Lancaster and Cumberland counti ...

, a vigilante group of Scotch-Irish settlers from Lancaster County. The town of Conestoga Centre in Conestoga Township was laid out in 1805 by John Kendig who had been operating a tavern at this location since 1790. By 1815, eleven families were living there. A tax list from 1815 lists John Kendig, Sr., John Kendig Jr., Martin Kendig, Magdalene Ponper, Adam Brady, Cornelius Conrad, John Carry, Theophilus Dunning, Solomon Falk, Catherine Grummel, and Jacob Yentzer. The headquarters of Turkey Hill Dairy, a food company specializing in iced teas and dairy products that was founded in 1931, has a Conestoga mailing address. It is located northwest of Conestoga in Manor Township. The area was in the national news in 2001 when President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

held a photo opportunity at the Safe Harbor power station southwest of Conestoga.

Geography

Conestoga is in southwestern Lancaster County, in the eastern part of Conestoga Township. It is situated between the

Conestoga River The Conestoga River (), also referred to as Conestoga Creek (), is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Susquehanna River flowing through t ...

to the northwest and

Pequea Creek Pequea Creek ( ; ) is a tributary of the Susquehanna River that runs for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 8, 2011 from the eastern border of Lancaster County and ...

to the southeast. It is south-southwest of

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

, and northeast of the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the Conestoga CDP has a total area of , of which , or 0.22%, are water.

Demographics

At the 2020 census there were 1,163 people across 487 total housing units in the CDP with an occupancy rate of 99%. 907 were 18 years and over, making up 78% of the population. The racial makeup of the CDP was 93.1% White, 0.5% African American, 0.2% Native American, 0.61% Asian, 0% Pacific Islander, 1.29% from other races, and 2.45% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.4%.

Photo gallery

File:Conestoga PA next to Hess House.jpg, House on Main Street in Conestoga, Pennsylvania, located next to the Hess House which was built in 1811 File:Conestoga PA Main Street.jpg, House on Main Street in Conestoga, Pennsylvania, located near the Hess House which was built in 1811

References

Census-designated places in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Census-designated places in Pennsylvania {{LancasterCountyPA-geo-stub