Lebanon, New Hampshire

For other places with the same name, see Lebanon (disambiguation).

Lebanon, New Hampshire
City
Seal
Location in Grafton County, New Hampshire
Country	United States
State	New Hampshire
County	Grafton
Incorporated	1761
Government
• City Manager	Gregg Mandsager
• Mayor	Karen Liot-Hill
• City Council	Georgia A. Tuttle Cliff Desrosiers George Sykes III Nicole S. Cormen Bruce Bronner Terri C. Dudley Stephen Wood Denise B. MacLeod
Area
• Total	41.4 sq mi (107.1 km2)
• Land	40.4 sq mi (104.5 km2)
• Water	1.0 sq mi (2.6 km2)  2.39%
Elevation	581 ft (177 m)
Population  (2007)
• Total	12,729
• Density	315.1/sq mi (121.8/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (Eastern)
ZIP codes	03766, 03784, 03756
Area code	603
FIPS code	33-41300
GNIS feature ID	0867976
Website	www.lebcity.com

Lebanon (locally /ˈlɛbənən/) is a city in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 12,568 at the 2000 census. Lebanon is located in western New Hampshire, south of Hanover, near the Connecticut River. It is the home to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth Medical School, together comprising the largest medical facility between Boston, Massachusetts and Burlington, Vermont.

Together with Hanover and White River Junction, Lebanon today is center of a Micropolitan Statistical Area, encompassing nearly 30 towns along the upper Connecticut River valley.

History

Lebanon was chartered as a town by Colonial Governor Benning Wentworth on July 4, 1761, one of sixteen along the Connecticut River. It was named for Lebanon, Connecticut, from which many early settlers had come, including the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, founder of Dartmouth College. Lebanon was, in fact, the original home of the Indian Charity School, the antecedent of Dartmouth College.

Early settlement concentrated along the Connecticut River in what is now West Lebanon, and along the Mascoma Lake region near Enfield. In the mid-1800s, a mill district developed at falls on the Mascoma River. Industries included, at various times, furniture mills, a tannery, several machine shops, a woolen textile mill and a clothing factory. In the mid-1800s, this district attracted many French workers from Canada's Quebec province. This became the center of town, although West Lebanon grew into a railroad hub with a separate identity after lines entered from Boston. This rail center would become known as Westboro after two trains collided when West Lebanon was mistaken for Lebanon.

The mill district, like the railroad, declined into the 1950s and 1960s. The town suffered two major fires; the second, in 1964, destroyed a large portion of the old mill district. Reconstruction resulted in a controversial urban renewal project featuring a closed-off district, called The Mall, built to replace the destroyed Hanover Street area. Partly in defiance of economic decline, and partly to counter a movement by West Lebanon to declare itself an independent town, Lebanon re-incorporated as a city in 1958.

The routing of Interstates 89 and 91 through Lebanon and nearby White River Junction, Vermont, in addition to the growth of Dartmouth College, led to the area's economic revival. The former mill town now has a mixed economy based on education, medical services, high-technology and retail. Just south of the village of West Lebanon, a major shopping district has sprung up at the intersection of Route 12A and I-89. Lebanon has undertaken improvements to its recreational facilities, including miles of hiking trails, a municipal ski area, a swimming pool and several sports fields.

In 1991, the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, along with most departments of Dartmouth Medical School, moved from Hanover to a new campus just south of the Lebanon-Hanover town line. A number of medical and high-tech firms have located facilities near the medical center campus. Tele Atlas, a leading worldwide developer of mapping databases, has its North American headquarters in Lebanon. Novell and Microsoft also have major facilities here, as does Merck, a result of their purchasing the Lebanon-based biotechnology company Glycofi.

• 
  Old Town Hall in 1918
• 
  School Street c. 1910
• 
  Public Library c. 1910
• 
  Bank Street c. 1910

Notable residents

• Aaron Baddeley, PGA Tour golfer
• Norris Cotton, US Senator
• Tom Demers, professional wrestler who goes under the ring name of Johnny Punch
• Experience Estabrook, American lawyer and politician
• Phineas Gage, Railroad foreman and brain-injury survivor
• Shane Ovitt, Call of Duty Expert
• Rob Woodward, former Boston Red Sox pitcher and current radio host
• Ammi B. Young, architect

Geography

Lebanon is located at 43°38′38″N 72°15′19″W (43.643897, -72.255242).Template:GR

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 41.4 square miles (107 km²), of which 40.4 sq mi (105 km²) is land and 1.0 sq mi (2.6 km²) is water, comprising 2.39% of the city. Lebanon is drained by the Mascoma River and is fully within the Connecticut River watershed. The southern end of Moose Mountain is in the northeast. The highest point in Lebanon is the northern end of Shaker Mountain, at 1,657 feet (505 m) above sea level, on the eastern border of the city.

Demographics

Crafts Avenue in 1912

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 12,568 people, 5,500 households, and 3,178 families residing in the city. The population density was 311.4 people per square mile (120.2/km²). There were 5,707 housing units at an average density of 141.4/sq mi (54.6/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.38% White, 0.83% African American, 0.43% Native American, 2.67% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.41% from other races, and 1.26% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.64% of the population.

There were 5,500 households out of which 28.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.6% were married couples living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.2% were non-families. 33.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.87.

Everett Knitting Mill in 1914

In the city the population was spread out with 22.6% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 32.4% from 25 to 44, 22.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 89.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $42,185, and the median income for a family was $52,133. Males had a median income of $32,693 versus $27,086 for females. The per capita income for the city was $25,133. About 6.3% of families and 8.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.8% of those under age 18 and 8.1% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Lebanon has its own elementary schools, junior high school, and high school. Students from neighboring towns (Grantham and Plainfield) attend high school in Lebanon. In 2009 the city proposed building a new junior high school to replace the existing, aging structure. Voters, however, did not approve the new bond issues which would have funded construction.

External links

• City of Lebanon
• Colburn Park Historic District
• Lebanon Historical Society
• Lebanon Opera House
• Lebanon Public Library
• New Hampshire Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau Profile
• Lebanon School District