West Lebanon is an area within the city 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 ...

Grafton County, New Hampshire Grafton County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 91,118. Its county seat is the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire, Haverhill. In 1972, the ...

, United States, along the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges into Long Isl ...

. The ZIP Code area for the community had a population of 4,444 at the 2020 census, out of 14,282 in the entire city. West Lebanon contains a major commercial strip along New Hampshire Route 12A, serving the

Upper Valley The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges into Long Isl ...

communities along Interstates 89 and 91. It also hosts the Lebanon Municipal Airport, a number of small software and tech businesses, and a regional daily newspaper, the ''

Valley News The ''Valley News'' is a six-day morning daily newspaper based in Lebanon, New Hampshire, covering the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire and Vermont, in the United States. Although the newspaper's offices are in Lebanon, its mailing addres ...

''. The village serves as a bedroom community for nearby

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

. West Lebanon was the site of Lebanon's first settlement in 1761. The village later developed into a regional hub for

rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

, although at that time it was better known to travelers as Westboro. By the 1950s, however, the rail industry had shrunk significantly. The rail service through West Lebanon was eventually terminated, and the village of

White River Junction, Vermont White River Junction is an unincorporated village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Hartford in Windsor County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,528 at the 2020 census, up from 2,286 in 2010, making it the largest co ...

, across the Connecticut River, took over most of the remaining services. Today commerce has replaced transportation as the basis of the economy, and West Lebanon serves as the commercial hub for a U.S. micropolitan area (the Lebanon–Claremont micropolitan area) of over 220,000 people.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Grafton County, New Hampshire Unincorporated communities in New Hampshire New Hampshire populated places on the Connecticut River Lebanon, New Hampshire