Lancaster, Pennsylvania
It was first called Cuteanal Town. Its first leader, John Wright, renamed the city after his home English city of Lancaster. The city's symbol, the red rose, is from the House of Lancaster. Lancaster was part of the 1681 Penn's Woods Charter of William Penn, and was laid out by James Hamilton in 1734. It was incorporated as a borough in 1742 and incorporated as a city in 1818. When the British captured Philadelphia in the American Revolution, Lancaster became the capital of the colonies on September 27, 1777. After the Continental Congress met one day, they moved still farther away, to York, Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania government also moved from Philadelphia to Lancaster, but stayed in Lancaster until the British troops left Philadelphia. Lancaster was capital of Pennsylvania again from 1799 to 1812, after which the capital was moved to Harrisburg.