740 Area Code 🌍☎️

Newark is a city in Licking County, Ohio, located 40 miles east of Columbus at the junction of the Licking River forks, with a 2020 population of 49,934 making it Ohio's 18th-largest city. It is world-famous as the home of the Longaberger Company's headquarters and the world's largest basket. The city is the site of the Newark Earthworks, a National Historic Landmark built by the Hopewell culture between 100 AD and 500 AD, featuring the 1,180-foot-diameter Newark Great Circle in neighboring Heath - the largest circular earthwork in the Americas - along with the Octagon and Observatory earthworks spanning nearly 3,000 feet. European-American settlement began in 1802 under General William C. Schenck, and the city's growth accelerated through 19th-century infrastructure investments including the 1825 Ohio and Erie Canal project, the 1855 Pittsburgh-Chicago-St. Louis Railroad connection, and the 1895 founding of the Heisey Glass Company. Newark is part of the Columbus metropolitan area and operates the Newark Earthworks as a state park through the Ohio History Connection. Lancaster is a city in Fairfield County, Ohio, serving as the county seat with a population of 40,552 as of the 2020 census, making it Ohio's 30th largest city and part of the Columbus metropolitan area, located approximately 33 miles southeast of Columbus in the south-central part of the state. The area was historically inhabited by the Shawnee, Iroquois, Wyandot, and other Native American tribes until frontier explorer Christopher Gist visited in 1751, followed by white settlement after the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 made the region safe from Indian raids. Lancaster was founded in 1800 when Ebenezer Zane's sons subdivided their land grant along the Hocking River as part of Zane's Trace, a 266-mile trail completed in 1797 that connected Wheeling, West Virginia to Limestone, Kentucky, and the city incorporated formally in 1831. The town's early growth was driven by predominantly German immigrants from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and prosperity from the Hocking Canal's connection to the Ohio and Erie Canal, which provided agricultural market access. Lancaster is home to the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, Ohio's longest continuously operating newspaper, which originated from an 1807 merger of two competing Civil War-era papers - the antislavery Adler and the Ohio Gazette. Zanesville is the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, located 52 miles east of Columbus at the confluence of the Licking and Muskingum rivers, with a 2020 population of 24,765. Founded in 1797 by John McIntire on land provided by pioneer Ebenezer Zane (who blazed Zane's Trace from Wheeling to Maysville), the city served as Ohio's second state capital from 1810 to 1812 and grew significantly from the 1820s through the 1850s. Zanesville became a major pottery manufacturing center in the first half of the 20th century, with notable producers including Roseville Pottery, Weller Pottery, and the Mosaic Tile Company, supported by abundant local clay deposits. The city was historically important as an Underground Railroad station, witnessed over 5,000 Union soldiers during Morgan's Raid in 1863, and gained national attention during the October 2011 exotic animal escape when 48 animals were killed by police. Like many post-industrial cities, Zanesville has experienced economic decline since its 1950s peak and now faces challenges including chronic poverty and high unemployment.