Lebanon is a town in

York County, Maine York County is both the southernmost and the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Maine, along the state of New Hampshire's eastern border. It is divided from Strafford County, New Hampshire, by the Salmon Falls River and the connected ti ...

, United States. The population was 6,469 at the 2020 census. Lebanon includes the villages of Center Lebanon, West Lebanon, North Lebanon, South Lebanon, and East Lebanon. It is the westernmost town in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

. Lebanon is part of the

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

– South Portland–

Biddeford Biddeford ( ) is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial center of York County. Its population was 22,552 at the 2020 census. The twin cities of Saco and Biddeford include the resort communities of Biddefo ...

, Maine metropolitan statistical area.

History

It was called Towwoh by the Newichawannock

Abenaki The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pred ...

tribe, whose main village was further down the

Salmon Falls River The Salmon Falls River is a tributary of the Piscataqua River in the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire. It rises at Great East Lake, Newichawannock Canal, and Horn Pond and flows south-southeast for approximately , forming the border b ...

. On April 20, 1733, the

Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court, formally the General Court of Massachusetts, is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts located in the state capital of Boston. Th ...

granted Towwoh Plantation to 60 colonists, who first settled it in 1743. The township was incorporated on June 17, 1767, renamed Lebanon after the biblical land of

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. It was Maine's 23rd town. Lebanon annexed unincorporated land in 1785, and some from Sanford in 1787. It swapped land with Shapleigh, giving some in 1793, then annexing some in 1825.

Farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

s found the surface of the town relatively level in the southeast, with extensive pine plains in the northwest. The chief crop would be

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

. At the Salmon Falls River and the

Little River Little River may refer to several places: Australia Streams New South Wales *Little River (Dubbo), source in the Dubbo region, a tributary of the Macquarie River * Little River (Oberon), source in the Oberon Shire, a tributary of Coxs River (Haw ...

were

water power Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kin ...

sites for mills. Lebanon had four

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

s, three

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

s, a shingle mill, a

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

carding In Textile manufacturing, textile production, carding is a mechanical process that disentangles, cleans and intermixes fibres to produce a continuous web or sliver (textiles), sliver suitable for subsequent processing. This is achieved by passi ...

mill and a

tannery Tanning, or hide tanning, is the process of treating skins and hides of animals to produce leather. A tannery is the place where the skins are processed. Historically, vegetable based tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound derived fr ...

. In 1850,

Oren B. Cheney Oren Burbank Cheney (December 10, 1816 – December 22, 1903) was an American politician, minister, and statesman who was a key figure in the Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist movement in the United States during the later 19th cent ...

founded West Lebanon Academy. Beginning in the early 1870s, the Portland and Rochester Railroad ran the length of the town's southeast side, with the Portsmouth, Great Falls and Conway Railroad crossing for a short distance on the western side.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Lebanon is drained by the Little River and

. The town's highest point is Prospect Hill, at an elevation of 880 feet (268 m) above sea level. The lowest elevation borders the Salmon Falls River, on the town's southernmost boundary, which is approximately 170 feet (52 m) above sea level. The town is crossed by

U.S. Route 202 U.S. Route 202 (US 202) is a spur route of U.S. Route 2, US 2. It follows a northeasterly and southwesterly direction stretching from Delaware in the south to Maine in the north and traveling through the states of Pennsylvania, N ...

and State Route 11. It borders the towns of Acton to the north, Sanford to the east, Berwick and

North Berwick North Berwick (; ) is a seaside resort, seaside town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, approximately east-northeast of Edinburgh. North Berwick became a fashionable holi ...

to the southeast, and the

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

towns of Milton and Rochester to the west.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 6,031 people, 2,204 households, and 1,679 families living in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 2,540 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 97.1%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.4%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.3% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0.1% from other races, and 1.3% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 0.9% of the population. There were 2,204 households, of which 37.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.9% had a male householder with no wife present, and 23.8% were non-families. 16.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 3.05. The median age in the town was 39.3 years. 25.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 25.8% were from 25 to 44; 31% were from 45 to 64; and 10.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 50.5% male and 49.5% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 5,083 people, 1,823 households, and 1,405 families living in the town. The population density was . There were 2,090 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 98.49%

, 0.31%

, 0.28% Native American, 0.26% Asian, 0.08% from other races, and 0.59% from two or more races. 0.63% of the population were

or Latino of any race. There were 1,823 households, out of which 38.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.9% were

living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.9% were non-families. 17.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.10. In the town, the population was spread out, with 28.6% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 23.7% from 45 to 64, and 9.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.8 males. The median income for a household in the town was $40,021, and the median income for a family was $41,713. Males had a median income of $33,551 versus $22,292 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $15,503. 10.4% of the population and 8.8% of families were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

. Out of the total population, 12.9% of those under the age of 18 and 7.1% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Education

Lebanon is part of MSAD60/RSU 60. Audra Beauvais is the Superintendent of Schools. Lebanon has two schools, Lebanon Elementary School (grades 4–5) and Hanson School (grades K–3).

Notable people

Ole Bull Ole Bornemann Bull (; 5 February 181017 August 1880) was a Norwegian virtuoso violinist and composer. According to Robert Schumann, he was on a level with Niccolò Paganini for the speed and clarity of his playing. Biography Background Bull was ...

, violinist and composer (summer resident) *

, clergyman, abolitionist, founded

Bates College Bates College () is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian ...

* Claudius B. Grant, Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court * Elihu B. Hayes, manufacturer, newspaper owner and politician *

Charles Coffin Jewett Charles Coffin Jewett (August 12, 1816 – January 9, 1868) was an American librarian, in 1848 becoming the Librarian and Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution before being appointed superintendent of the Boston Public Library i ...

, superintendent of the Boston Public Library *

Sumner Increase Kimball Sumner Increase Kimball (September 2, 1834 – June 20, 1923) was the organizer of the United States Life-Saving Service and the General Superintendent of the Life-Saving Service from 1878–1915. Originally a lawyer and a legislative administr ...

, organized the

United States Life-Saving Service The United States Life-Saving ServiceDespite the lack of hyphen in its insignia, the agency itself is hyphenated in government documents including: and was a United States government agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian eff ...

* Charles E. Littlefield, US congressman

References

External links

Town of Lebanon, Maine

Lebanon Area Library

OurVoice – Citizens for a Better Lebanon – Community News & Government Info

Epodunk Town Profile

Maine Genealogy: Lebanon, York County, Maine
{{authority control Populated places established in 1767 Portland metropolitan area, Maine Towns in York County, Maine Towns in Maine 1767 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies