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CHistory
History · Rising Sun-Lebanon

12% of Rising Sun-Lebanon’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 28% of U.S. towns · #30 of 37 in Delaware. What drives it

Below: maps from 1931 on and the census since 1980.

0on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

About Rising Sun-Lebanon’s history

How historic is Rising Sun-Lebanon?

C

More historic than 28% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
History grade

What drives Rising Sun-Lebanon’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rising Sun-Lebanon is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #30 of 37 in Delaware. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Rising Sun-Lebanon’s overall grade.
Founding eraWithout a firm founding date for Rising Sun-Lebanon, this grade rests on its old homes and Register listings–Homes built before 194012.2% of homes (±13.7) · typical DE town 5.9% · U.S. 8.4%B−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical DE town 29.4 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 28%
NewerOlder
Delaware towns of 2,500+ (37)Ahead of 19%

Delaware towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Delaware town has 29.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Rising Sun-Lebanon’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (14% of Delaware towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±13.7 points).

Founding year: our sources. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Rising Sun-Lebanon’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Rising Sun-Lebanon, and 10 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Rising Sun-Lebanon are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Lebanon
1867–1902
Rising Sun
1884–1902
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Cypress GardensGeorge Meyers DevelopmentLebanonMarkeys Mobile Home ParkPleasant HillRising SunRising Sun Mobile Home ParkSilver Maple Mobile Home ParkThe OrchardWhispering Pines Mobile Home Park

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Start Rising Sun-Lebanon’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rising Sun-Lebanon’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story so far

Rising Sun-Lebanon, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Rising Sun-Lebanon yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Rising Sun-Lebanon is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kent County, Delaware, United States. It is part of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, Rising Sun-Lebanon had a population of 4,104.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,391 to 4,104 (+21%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Rising Sun-Lebanon, 1867 to 1931

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1867Post officeThe Lebanon post office opens
  3. 1884Post officeThe Rising Sun post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1902Post officeThe Lebanon post office closes
  6. 1902Post officeThe Rising Sun post office closes
  7. 1931On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Rising Sun-Lebanon, decade by decade

Today4 recent
DE 10 ALT EB past Rising Sun Road-Voshells Mill Star Hill Road2026DE 10 ALT EB past Rising Sun Road-Voshells Mill Star …DE 10 ALT EB past Pleasant Hill Drive2026DE 10 ALT EB past Pleasant Hill Drive2022-07-17 10 08 09 View west along Delaware State Route 10 Alternate (Walnut Shade Road) at Rising Sun Road in20222022-07-17 10 08 09 View west along Delaware State Ro…2022-07-17 09 59 54 View east along Delaware State Route 10 Alternate (South State Street) at Pleasant Hill Drive in20222022-07-17 09 59 54 View east along Delaware State Ro…
On the map

Rising Sun-Lebanon on the map, 1931 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rising Sun-Lebanon. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Rising Sun-Lebanon on the 1931 USGS mapRising Sun-Lebanon on the 1956 USGS mapRising Sun-Lebanon on the 1981 USGS mapRising Sun-Lebanon on the 1993 USGS map1931Wyoming sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Rising Sun-Lebanon.

People over time

Rising Sun-Lebanon, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,500198020002020Peak: 4,104

Between 2,176 and 4,104 people in every census since 1980.

5 censuses, 1980–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rising Sun-Lebanon’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Highland AcresIts storyD−Dover Base HousingIts storyD

Questions about Rising Sun-Lebanon’s history

How does Rising Sun-Lebanon rank for history?

Rising Sun-Lebanon is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #30 of 37 in Delaware. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Rising Sun-Lebanon?

12% of Rising Sun-Lebanon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±13.7 points), against a typical 5.9% for a Delaware town; the median home was built in 1995.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (4), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.