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History · Lebanon Township

1 of Lebanon Township’s places is on the National Register

Its Register listing is the Buffington Island. Most of Lebanon Township was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1908 on, and the census since 1820.

1on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Lebanon Township’s archive · credits on each photo

What stands out about Lebanon Township’s past

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

Lost villages8 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Lebanon Township, and 10 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19085 editions of the USGS map, 1908 to 1994. Watch Lebanon Township change.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

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

Greatbend
1837–1914
Sterling Bottom
1844–1855
Portland
1855–today
Hazael
1893–1918
Spiller
1893–1918
Artie
1899–1902
Merritt
1899–1913
Rolandus
1902–1936
Elden
1904–1911
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Bald KnobsEldenGreat BendHazaelMerrittOldtown FlatsPortlandRolandusSpillerStiversville
Gone or out of use
Adams SchoolschoolClenicus SchoolschoolElden Post Officepost officeGranny Run Post LightbuildingGreatbend Post Officepost officeHazael Post Officepost officeHopedale SchoolschoolLaucks ChapelchurchMerritt Post Officepost officeRainbow Ridge SchoolschoolRolandus Post Officepost officeSpiller Post Officepost office
10cemeteries and burying grounds inside Lebanon Township
Ball KnobBethlehemBrowningEngleLaucks ChapelMartinMcKayMiddleswartOttobineRainbow

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

On the map

Lebanon Township on the map, 1908 to 1994

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

Lebanon Township on the 1908 USGS mapLebanon Township on the 1960 USGS mapLebanon Township on the 1975 USGS mapLebanon Township on the 1987 USGS mapLebanon Township on the 1994 USGS map1908Ravenswood 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 Lebanon Township.

The story

How Lebanon Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lebanon Township.

Read it all →

Lebanon is in the Symmes Purchase. The first European settler in what is now Lebanon was Ichabod Corwin, uncle of Ohio Governor Thomas Corwin, who came to Ohio from Bourbon County, Kentucky, and settled on the north branch of Turtle Creek in March 1796. The site of his cabin is now on the grounds of Berry Intermediate School on North Broadway and is marked with a monument erected by the Warren County Historical Society.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Lebanon Township, 1837 to 1914

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837Post officeThe Greatbend post office opens
  3. 1844Post officeThe Sterling Bottom post office opens
  4. 1855Post officeThe Sterling Bottom post office closes
  5. 1855Post officeThe Portland post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1907In the archiveUniversity, Lebanon, Ohio
  8. 1908On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1910In the archiveSouth Mechanic St., Lebanon, Ohio
  10. 1914Post officeThe Greatbend post office closes
By decade

Lebanon Township, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1910s5 items
University, Lebanon, Ohio1907University, Lebanon, OhioPostcardUniversity, Lebanon, Ohio1907University, Lebanon, OhioPostcardBird's Eye View of Lebanon, O1909Bird's Eye View of Lebanon, OPostcardBird's Eye View of Lebanon, O1909Bird's Eye View of Lebanon, OPostcardSouth Mechanic St., Lebanon, Ohio1910South Mechanic St., Lebanon, OhioPostcard
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

University, Lebanon, Ohio
Retake this viewUniversity, Lebanon, Ohio, 1907

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Lebanon Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Lebanon Township

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1970
Buffington Island
Buffington Island
Sites
Buffington IslandSite

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Lebanon Township, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,000185019001950200020,841

Grew from 1,079 people in 1820 to 20,841 in 2020, more than tenfold.

21 censuses, 1820–2020.

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

Help out

Finish Lebanon Township’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewUniversity, Lebanon, Ohio: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Sutton TownshipIts storyB−Chester Township2 historic placesB+Olive TownshipIts storyCLetart TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Lebanon Township’s history

What is on the National Register in Lebanon Township?

One place: the Buffington Island (listed 1970).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.