North Prince Street Historic District
Why it's listed
Brick industrial buildings on North Prince Street and West Lemon Street in Lancaster City were erected between 1881 and 1913, most of them as tobacco warehouses. The first, at 32-54 West Lemon Street, was built around 1881 by the Baumgardner Brothers and is the sole survivor of three such buildings. The S. R. Moss Cigar Company building at 401 North Prince Street, completed in 1907 after a fire destroyed an earlier warehouse, is five stories tall with segmental arch windows and a corbelled cornice. Tobacco was not grown in the city, but Lancaster firms processed, stored and shipped much of the county crop, and the district reflects that role. The buildings are significant for their connection to the tobacco trade and as a representative group of late nineteenth and early twentieth century industrial architecture in the city. Interiors retain post and beam construction, wood plank floors and exposed brick walls.
Significance in brief: The district is associated with tobacco, which was Lancaster's leading industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and its warehouses and factories are described as a well-preserved concentration of tobacco buildings in the city. The buildings are also presented as representative of the utilitarian industrial architecture of that period, with brick construction, segmental arch windows, and large open interiors.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 89001054, listed August 18, 1989. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly N. Prince St. and W. Lemon St., Lancaster |
|---|---|
| County | Lancaster County |
| Listed | August 18, 1989 |
| Reference number | 89001054 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1881-1938 |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Industry, Agriculture, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The buildings are described as in fair to good condition and largely retaining integrity; 401 North Prince Street is printing plant occupied and 427 North Prince Street continues to store tobacco. |
| Acreage | 2 |
| Within district | Lancaster City Historic District |
| Coordinates | 40.04413, -76.30876 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 89001054.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7056419
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.