PlacesPages: Lebanon, Oregon

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Lebanon, Oregon

I originally posted the Lebanon, Oregon PLACES page on my website on March 16, 2007, and last updated it on May 16, 2010. I have added information I did not have at that time.

The town of Lebanon is a perfect example of why I made these PLACES pages a major part of my website. I had never been to Lebanon before 2006, and I discovered that much of its history had disappeared in the last few years. The 1909 Lebanon High School, Santiam Elementary, and the Motor-Vu Drive-In were already gone. While I was working in Lebanon, the Hasty Freez was demolished almost before I realized it and I realized a PLACES page about Lebanon had to be done. I caught the old Lebanon Supermarket just in time, and soon the old Grant Street Bridge will undoubtedly come down once its replacement is finished.

The Lebanon I saw was quite different from the Lebanon of a few years ago, and not all the changes were bad. The restorations of the Elkins Flour Mill and Santiam Travel Station were completed and the Kuhn Theatre had reopened. Lebanon will surely see even more changes in the years to come. This page serves as a snapshot of Lebanon in the year 2006.

I used a number of resources in putting together this page. Perhaps the most important was the Lebanon Express newspaper, especially its periodic Historic Lebanon sections and special Lebanon at the Crossroads feature, along with its sister newspaper, the Albany Democrat-Herald, two of Lee Enterprises' Mid-Valley Newspapers. Also significant were the websites of the City of Lebanon, the Linn County Assessor & the Lebanon Community School District. Other sources included the Linn-Benton Community College website, the Lebanon Genealogical Society website, Cast Iron Storefronts of Oregon by Bernadette Niederer and the History of Lebanon from the Ixtapa Mexican Restaurant's menu. Special thanks to readers Tony Hayden, who notified me about the demolition of the Park Theater, Tim Russell, who provided some information about Lebanon when he was growing up there in the 1960s and 70s, and Robin Stalcup, who provided information about the old Lebanon Middle School.

Lebanon History

The area now known as Lebanon was initially called Peterson’s Gap, named after Asa Peterson, one of the earliest settlers in Oregon who took a land claim a few miles southwest of where the town is today. Jeremiah Ralston and his wife Jemima arrived here in September 1847 and Jeremiah opened the first store in the county at what is now the corner of Main & Oak Streets. Ralston began platting the town and named it Lebanon after his birthplace, Lebanon, Tennessee, and because the cedar trees along the South Santiam River reminded him of the cedars of Lebanon in the Bible. The name was initially controversial, and for a time the town was also referred to as Pinhook, but by the time the post office was established in 1851, the name of Lebanon had been accepted. Ralston had the first seven blocks platted in 1855, and platted all additions to the town until 1887. The town was incorporated in 1878.

Excavation of the Albany-Santiam Canal from the South Santiam River at Lebanon to Albany began in 1872. It did not connect directly to Lebanon initially. The Lebanon-Santiam Canal, originally called the Lebanon Ditch, was excavated in 1891 and 1892, winding through the town to make use of existing sloughs as much as possible.

Lebanon’s first newspaper, the Lebanon Express, was established in 1887. It remains in print today. Lebanon had two other early newspapers as well. Lebanon first gained electricity in 1889 and telephone service in 1890. The first paper mill began operating in 1891 and the first water system, using wood water mains, was built in the 1890s. The wood water mains were replaced by cast iron in 1937. Gas service came to Lebanon in 1930. The Lebanon State Airport was built in 1941. The Linn-Benton Community College was established in 1966.

Lebanon is now the home to the largest single-story building in Oregon. The new Lowe’s distribution center, scheduled to open in 2007, will take up 34 acres and contain 1.4 million square feet of floor space.