Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns · #72 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it
Most of Lebanon was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1941 on, and the census since 1860.
Lebanon dates its founding to 1849 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1860.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lebanon is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #72 of 247 in Missouri. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Missouri towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Missouri town has 2.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Lebanon’s 4.6 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). 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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lebanon’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltPloger-Moneymaker Place is built
In the archivePencil Drawing of Train Depot in Lebanon Missouri by A.B. GreeneBuiltWallace House is built
In the archiveJ. C. Wallace, Captain, 12th Ohio Infantry Volunteers (Union)
In the archiveLetter from D. P. Grier, The Gasconade, Lebanon, Missouri, to Anna McKinney Grier, (Febru…
Born herePhil M. Donnelly is born here
Born hereAntoine Predock is born here
Born hereLanford Wilson is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyBuiltJoe Knight Building is built
Born hereMike Hopkins (astronaut) is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Lebanon.
Lebanon was founded in 1849. The community was named after Lebanon, Tennessee, the former home of many of the first settlers.
The Ralph E. Burley House, Joe Knight Building, Laclede County Jail, Ploger-Moneymaker Place, and Wallace House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lebanon. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lebanon.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lebanon’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 341 people in 1860 to 15,013 in 2020, more than tenfold.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lebanon’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1849, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. the census of 1860 counted 341 people here.
Lebanon is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #72 of 247 in Missouri. 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.
6 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Ploger-Moneymaker Place (listed 1982, the first). 7 historic buildings in all.
7% of Lebanon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1978.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (3), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
