Before 1930, Lancastrians did their grocery shopping at the farmers market in their respective neighborhoods, and in many cases, they did this several times a week. Similar to the points on a compass, Lancaster city had five farmers markets: North, South, East, West and one dead center.

Although Central Market holds the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating market
in the country, the building that contains it is more recent than the Southern Market by 14 months.