PlacesPages: Lebanon

Showing posts with label Lebanon. Show all posts

Saturday, March 7, 2026

Concrete Beam near Lebanon, Oregon

On December 20, 2006, I spotted this truck carrying a large reinforced concrete beam on Oregon Highway 34 heading towards Lebanon, Oregon.

I believe this beam was for the new Grant Street Bridge over the South Santiam River in Lebanon, which was under construction at the time.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Lebanon #40: Wal-Mart Supercenter

3920 South Santiam Highway

Wal-Mart Supercenter on October 21, 2006

This 188,000 Wal-Mart Supercenter opened on July 20, 2005. It is built on the site of the Motor-Vu Drive In. The Motor-Vu Drive In was built in 1952 by Tadd Nelson. It was sold in 1975 to Carl Hermanson, who operated it until it closed in the fall of 2003, when it was purchased by Wal-Mart. The drive in was demolished in 2004.

Related Links:
Motor-Vu Drive-In at CinemaTour

This concludes the original content of my Lebanon PLACES page. To see any additional blog entries about Lebanon, click on the Lebanon label.

Lebanon #39: Mural Park

847 Main Street

Mural Park on October 21, 2006

Mural Park is on the site of the old Lebanon Post Office. Reader Arnold Williams recalls that this was previously the site of a restaurant that burned to the ground in the late 1980s, leaving only the back wall.

Mural Park on October 21, 2006

At one point this restaurant was Looney’s Steak House and Leroy’s Lounge, and this may have been its last occupant. The Lebanon Creamery next door to the south had expanded into half of this building as well.

Mural Park on October 21, 2006

The now vacant lot now contains a totem pole, with murals painted on the walls of the surrounding buildings.

Mural Park Totem Pole on October 21, 2006

The totem pole was erected on September 10, 1993.

Mural Park Totem Pole Plaque on October 21, 2006

The current murals were painted by Joy Williamson, Brenna Zedan, Kristen Wright and Julie Hite in 1998 and 1999.

Mural Park on October 21, 2006

Continue to 40: Wal-Mart Supercenter…

Lebanon #38: The River Center

3000 South Santiam Highway

The River Center on October 21, 2006

This 94,321-square-foot building was completed in 1992 and opened as the first Wal-Mart store in Oregon. The store closed July 19, 2005, with a new Wal-Mart Supercenter ready to open the following day. The building was sold to the Lebanon Chapel, who renovated it into the River Center with a large auditorium, a Community Resource Center, and future space for the Lebanon Christian School to move into.

The River Center on October 21, 2006

Continue to 39: Mural Park…

Lebanon #37: American Legion Flagpole

480 South Main Street

American Legion Flagpole on November 22, 2006

The flagpole at Santiam Post #51 of the American Legion was dedicated “as a memorial to all veterans who served our nation in time of need” in 1973.

1973 American Legion Flagpole Plaque on November 22, 2006

It was rededicated on May 30, 1980.

1980 American Legion Flagpole Plaque on November 22, 2006

Continued 38: The River Center…

Lebanon #36: Gill Landing

1400 East Grant Street

Gill Landing on October 21, 2006

Gill Landing is a 6.23 acre park consisting of a boat launch, picnic area, RV park and campground. Reader Tim Russell recalls that it sits on the site of the west end of the 1916 Grant Street Bridge. It is dedicated to the memory of Warren C. Gill, who lived from 1912 to 1987. The dedication plaque reads:

GILL LANDING
THIS BOATING FACILITY IS DEDICATED
TO THE MEMORY OF
WARREN C. GILL (1912-1987)

WARREN’S LIFE WAS DEVOTED TO COUNTRY, STATE, COMMUNITY AND FAMILY. A RETIRED COAST GUARD COMMANDER, HE WAS AWARDED THE LEGION OF MERIT, NAVY CROSS AND PURPLE HEART. WARREN SERVED IN THE STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND STATE SENATE. A LIFETIME LEBANON RESIDENT, HE WAS CITY ATTORNEY FOR 17 YEARS. AN AVID BOATER, WARREN SERVED ON THE STATE MARINE BOARD FOR SIXTEEN YEARS. HE WAS STRONGLY COMMITTED TO DEVELOPING SAFE AND ENJOYABLE BOATING FACILITIES IN OREGON. IN 1972, WARREN WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN DEVELOPING THIS BOAT RAMP IN COOPERATION WITH THE CITY OF LEBANON. GILL LANDING PROVIDES PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE SOUTH SANTIAM RIVER FOR THE USE AND ENJOYMENT OF ALL BOATERS IN LINN COUNTY.

Gill Landing Plaque on October 21, 2006

Continue to 37: American Legion Flagpole…

Lebanon #35: Grant Street Bridge

Grant Street Bridge on October 21, 2006

The first Grant Street Bridge was a wooden covered bridge that was built in 1876. It was replaced in 1916 by a steel bridge. Reader Tim Russell recalls that that bridge on the south side of the railroad bridge was severely damaged by the 1964 Christmas Flood and was condemned. This new bridge was built on the north side of the railroad bridge to replace it. The 1916 bridge was demolished in 1966. Joy Williamson painted a mural on one of the bridge piers in 2001.

Grant Street Bridge Mural on October 21, 2006

The bridge has cracks in the approach spans, and the piers in the river are showing scour problems. The City of Lebanon received a grant in February 2004 from the Oregon Department of Transportation to replace the bridge. Construction of the new bridge started in 2006 and was scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2007, with the old bridge to be demolished. I do not know if the mural on the pier was preserved.

Grant Street Bridge Mural on October 21, 2006

Continue to 36: Gill Landing…

Lebanon #34: Lebanon Supermarket

1475 South Main Street

Lebanon Supermarket Building Demolition on July 10, 2006

The former home of the Lebanon Supermarket was built in 1962. It went on to house other businesses before being demolished in July 2006 to make way for a new strip mall building called Willamette Community Bank Square, named after its anchor tenant.

Continue to 35: Grant Street Bridge…

Lebanon #33: Drive-In Restaurant

1500 South Main Street

Muchas Gracias on October 31, 2006

Across the street from the Hasty Freez site is another drive-in restaurant built at about the same time, with another impressive neon sign.

Muchas Gracias Sign on October 21, 2006

Reader Michael Beemer recalls that in the late 50's and early 60s it was called Ritchie's Drive Inn and featured carhops, and reader Tim Russell recalls that it was the A/C Burger Drive-In Restaurant (called Acey-Greasy by some) in the 1960s and 70s. It is shown here as Muchas Gracias in 2006. It has since changed ownership again and become Sharon's Kountry Cafe.

Ritchie's Drive Inn, circa 1960
Photo courtesy Michael Beemer

Continue to 34: Lebanon Supermarket…

Lebanon #32: Hasty Freez

1507 South Main Street

Hasty Freez Sign on February 13, 2006

Since 1952, the southeast corner of Main and Milton Streets was home to a small cinder-block building that was the Lebanon Hasty Freez, a small drive through selling ice cream and burgers. For its last 26 years, it was owned by Loren D. Holt and his children Loren W. Holt and Lorie Davis-Toepfer. In 2005, the Oregon Department of Transportation began working on the intersection, as Main Street serves as U.S. Highway 20, and Milton Street is part of the truck route through town. The work included eliminating the Hasty Freez’s Main Street driveway and rounding off the intersection to give trucks more room to turn, leaving the building within 3 feet of the street. ODOT would not offer enough money to replace the building, or move it and bring it up to code, leaving the business no choice but to close on August 9, 2005. The building was demolished in 2006; the neon sign, which was restored in 2003 at a cost of $7,000, remained in place into at least early 2007, but was removed by the end of 2008. Until the business closed, the sign was available to rent for personal messages.

Hasty Freez Sign on July 14, 2006

Another Hasty Freez is located in nearby Albany, Oregon, at 665 Lyon Street SE. It is owned & operated by Tony Pope, who took over the business in 1990 from his father, who bought the business in 1969 from Vince Simington. The business opened on March 22, 1952 as Tastee Freez. The name was changed to Hasty Freez after the original owner was confronted by the Tastee Freez franchise in the midwest, which the Albany store had no connection with. I do not know if there was ever any connection between the Albany and Lebanon stores, but it seems likely.

Continue to 33: Drive-In Restaurant…

Lebanon #31: Park Theatre

723 Park Street

Park Theatre on October 21, 2006

This large building was known as the Park Theatre. It was built in 1949 by a farmer named Mr. Sagert, a feed store operator named Mr. Gilenwater, Mr. Shaminek of Shaminek Bakery, and Clay Nichols who owned and operated Lebanon Billiards. The building plans were developed by a theater builder named Thomas from Vancouver, Washington. It was built of reinforced concrete with a stucco finish, and small retail spaces flanked the theater entrance. The Park Street Theatre operated as a theater until 1975. The Lebanon Chapel met in the theatre from 1975 to 1980, when built a new church and school on South Main Street. The theatre later housed an antique store and hair salon that was there for over 20 years. Chiropractor Les Pullen purchased the office building next door in 1973 and purchased the theatre in the 1990s. The Pullens had XL Excavation of Eugene demolish both buildings in September 2008.

Park Theatre on October 21, 2006

Continue to 32: Hasty Freez…

Lebanon #30: Elks Lodge

630 Park Street

Elks Lodge on October 21, 2006

This building is the home of Lodge #1663 of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks.

Elks Lodge on October 21, 2006

It was designed by Portland architects Freeman & Hayslip at the same time they were working on the remodel of the Lebanon High School.

Elks Lodge Detail on October 21, 2006

It was built in 1949, and dedicated on September 17, 1949 by Past Grand Exalted Ruler Frank J. Lonergan.

Elks Lodge Dedication Plaque on October 21, 2006

In 1969 a ballroom designed by Frank Kendall was added on the east side of the building.

Continue to 31: Park Theatre…

Lebanon #29: Witcher Building

585 Park Street

Witcher Building on October 21, 2006

This building was built in 1946 by Mr. Witcher who managed a furniture store here until the building was sold to Derwood Smith. Later is was acquired by the Lebanon Elks. It was home of the City of Lebanon Senior Center since the mid-1970s until the new Senior Center opened at Academy Square in 2005.

Witcher Building on October 21, 2006

At some point, the second-floor windows were replaced with windows much smaller than the originals. In late 2006, these small windows were replaced with larger windows that more closely match the buildings original windows and greatly improved its appearance.

Witcher Building on November 30, 2006

Continue to 30: Elks Lodge…

Lebanon #28: Downing Building

600 South Main Street

Downing Building on October 21, 2006

The Art-Deco Downing Building was built by the Keebler Brothers for Raymond Downing in 1941. Downing was raised on a large, prosperous strawberry farm in Lacomb. After moving to Lebanon in the 1920s he bought and operated a pool hall several building to the south of this site. He used his profits to have this building built as speculative rental property. Downing leased the building to a grocery store called Jerry’s Market, which remained here for many years. From February 2006 to August 2007 it was the home of Club Hipnotiq.

Continue to 29: Witcher Building…

Lebanon #27: Weldwood & Lebanite Plants

3213 South Santiam Highway

Weldwood & Lebanite Plants on October 21, 2006

In 1940, the Evans Plywood mill opened just north of Cheadle Lake. By the early 1950s, the plant was owned by Cascade Plywood. The plant made a brand of plywood called Weldwood. In 1952, Cascade Plywood opened a new hardboard plant on the site and began producing a composite board called Lebanite, which was named after the town. Both facilities were purchased by U.S. Plywood in 1962, which became part of Champion International in 1967. The plywood plant closed in 1985. The Lebanite hardboard plant was sold to Georgia-Pacific in 1987. The plant was sold to RE Services in January 2000 and renamed Lebanite Corporation. The plant shut down on August 1, 2003. It reopened on November 6, 2003 as Oregon Panel Products, LLC, but shut down again, this time permanently, in April 2004.

A Lebanon city park opened in 1966 was named Weldwood Park after the plywood product. The park was renamed Bob Smith Memorial Park in 2005 after a former Lebanon mayor who served for 16 years in the 1980s & 1990s and had helped acquire the land for the park in 1966.

Continue to 28: Downing Building…

Lebanon #26: Kuhn Theatre

668 South Main Street

Kuhn Theatre on October 21, 2006

This second Kuhn Theatre with Art Deco architecture was built in 1936 by R. “Cap” Kuhn. Kuhn was known as “Cap” because he was a Captain in the Salvation Army. The theater has closed and reopened several times. After being closed for many years, it reopened in December 2005 showing first-run movies after an extensive restoration.

Continue to 27: Weldwood & Lebanite Plants…

Lebanon #25: Lebanon General Hospital

626 Second Street

Lebanon General Hospital Building on October 21, 2006

This building was built in 1936 as the Lebanon General Hospital, as can still be seen wearing through on the cornerstone. The building became the Lebanon Public Library in 1952 after a new hospital was built.

Lebanon General Hospital Cornerstone on October 21, 2006

Lebanon’s first hospital was established in a house in 1913. In 1917, Dr. Joel Booth, Dr. W.A. Barendick, and Dr. Bruce Miller established a hospital in what had been the Montague House with Mrs. C.H. Whitman in charge. In 1919, Dr. N.E. Irvine and Dr. Lee Wood joined the hospital. In 1919, the doctors purchased the Scroggin House on the lot to the north of this site, and moved the hospital there. Dr. Booth was president of the hospital board, and promoted the construction of a new hospital building. In 1936, this 24-bed hospital was built here, on the former site of a grade school that was built in 1876. The Scroggin House became an annex with living quarters for non-resident nurses, a kitchen, laundry and storage.

During the 1940s, the population of Lebanon tripled and just 11 years after it was built the hospital was found to be overcrowded and was condemned as a fire hazard. In 1948 the Mennonite Church took over management of the facility while a fund drive was organized with the help of attorney Lawrence Morley as general chairman, Lebanon lumberman John Nyland, and Max Thecker, president of Cascade Plywood Corporation. Dr. Booth was still president of the hospital board, and again promoted construction of a new building. The new Lebanon General Hospital was dedicated on January 20, 1952.

After the Lebanon General Hospital moved into its new building, this building became home to the Lebanon Public Library, which had been founded in 1910 by the Women’s Civil Club as a privately supported service with Mrs. J.C. Booth as the first president and Women’s Christian Temperance Union members serving as librarians. The library was supported by donations and monthly teas until 1916, when Mrs. A.W. Blackburn as president developed the idea of selling shares at one dollar each and a Library Association was set up. The library occupied a number of locations over the years before moving into this building.

Frederic Homer Balch Plaque on October 21, 2006

A small park is located next to the library. The park contains a plaque placed in 1932 by the Linn Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Oregon Pioneers in memory of Frederic Homer Balch, who was born on December 14, 1861 and was the author of “The Bridge of the Gods.”

Garden Club Drinking Fountain on October 21, 2006

The park also contains a drinking fountain placed by the Lebanon Garden Club on 1974.

Garden Club Drinking Fountain Plaque on October 21, 2006

A new 20,000-square-foot public library & justice center at Academy Square was dedicated on Saturday, July 11, 2009. This building is now a Teen Center for the Boys & Girls Club of the Greater Santiam.

Continue to 26: Kuhn Theatre…

Lebanon #24: Lebanon National Bank

809 South Main Street

Lebanon National Bank on October 21, 2006

This building was built in 1910 by the Lebanon Development Company to house the Lebanon National Bank. The bank had been established in 1909 by Dr. J.C. Booth with the aid of S.C. Stewart and attorneys W.M. Newport and N.M. Brown, and originally operated in a building further north on main street. A.M Reeves was vice president of the Lebanon National Bank. He was born in Yamhill County in 1861, graduated from Willamette University in 1887 and taught in Philomath and Halsey and served as a postmaster before coming to Lebanon in 1905. Reeves founded the Reeves Clark mercantile business with E.L. Clark and V.S. Wennersten. Reeves was chairman of the board during the construction of the high school, was a trustee of the Methodist Church when its church building was constructed, and served as a councilman and mayor of Lebanon. Reeves was president of the Lebanon Development Company when it built this building. Originally, the Lebanon National Bank was located in the northwest corner of the building, with an I.G.A. market wrapping around it to have entrances on both the north and west sides. The Reeves-Clark department store originally occupied the south half of the ground floor. Reeves died in 1926 but his son reopened his store a year later.

First National Bank Night Deposit Safe on October 21, 2006

In 1932 the Lebanon National Bank merged into the First National Bank of Lebanon. The merged bank took the First National Bank of Lebanon name but operated in the Lebanon National Bank’s space in this building. Eventually, the bank expanded to fill the north half of the building, which it owned, and rented the rear of the south half. The Reeves-Clark department store was eventually replaced by a feed store. In 1948, the First National Bank of Lebanon became affiliated with the 1st National Bank of Portland, and in 1951 the bank became a branch of the 1st National Bank of Oregon, later known as 1st Interstate Bank. The bank is still in operation today, as a Wells Fargo branch. There is still a night deposit safe outside the entry with a large bronze seal bank seal of the First National Bank of Lebanon.

Continue to 25: Lebanon General Hospital…

Lebanon #23: Lebanon Creamery Company Building

853 South Main Street

Lebanon Creamery Company Building on November 30, 2006

Fredric August Bohle established a farm on Lancaster Drive in Salem in 1908 and established the Lebanon Creamery in 1911 on the site of Ralston Square Park. The creamery was operated by Bohle and his sons William Edward Bohle and Edwin Henry Bohle. They produced butter that was sold statewide. This building was built in 1928 by contractor E.H. Keebler to replace the old creamery building at what is now Ralston Square Park. In 1929, the Lebanon Creamery Company moved into the new concrete building. In the new building, the creamery began producing milk and ice cream. The creamery also expanded into half of the building to the north. The business was sold to Curley’s Dairy in 1950. Reader Arnold Williams recalls that later this building was the 88 Cent Store. As of 2007 it was the City of Lebanon’s Community Development Center. It is currently home to Hollywood Studios Fitness.

Continue to 24: Lebanon National Bank…

Lebanon #22: City Hall

925 South Main Street

Lebanon City Hall on October 21, 2006

This municipal building was built in 1928. It originally faced Maple Street and housed the fire department, jail and city recorder. Portions of this building may date from before that, but it is hard to tell. The fire department moved out in the 1970s, and the police department took their place. Today, this is Lebanon’s City Hall and Police Department. There is a small park located adjacent to City Hall. A seismic evaluation in 1994 found that the City Hall building does not meet earthquake requirements, and a visual analysis in February 2006 found significant structural deficiencies and determined that the build was not designed for the weight it is currently supporting. Additionally, municipal courts on the second floor are not handicapped accessible. A new building has since been built on the site of the Santiam School to house the police department and municipal courts, but other city offices remain in this building.

Continue to 23: Lebanon Creamery Company Building…