Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1792.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lebanon’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lebanon is more historic than 97% of U.S. towns, #97 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lebanon’s overall grade.
Pennsylvania towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Pennsylvania town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Lebanon’s 3.0 sits near the middle of its state (61% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.7 points). Two sources give 1720.
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 →
What stands out about Lebanon’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Lebanon was settled by European colonists in 1720, many with the family names of "Steitz" and "Light", along a creek that was then named "Steitz Creek". The Light patriarchs built a fort to protect against Indians and named it "Light's Fort". The town was laid out in 1753, incorporated as a borough on February 20, 1821, and became a city on November 25, 1885. It adopted the commission form of government, consisting of four councilmen and a mayor.
Passages that mention Lebanon, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon1883 · page 298Read the page →
Read the text
quently removing to the neighborhood of his birthplace in Lancaster County, where he kept a store and practiced surveying. He afterwards went to the town of Lebanon, where in 1800 he purchased the Union Forge estate in Lebanon County from Eobert Coleman, which establishment he carried on many years.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon1883 · page 313Read the page →
Read the text
to the York County Academy, at York, then under anon, one at Annville, and the third, known as the " Hill Church," about three and one-half miles northwest of Lebanon. At the close of the first year his connection with the Annville Church was severed, ao-reeably to the conditions contained in his acceptance of the call, and in the month of May, 1864, the Classis of Lebanon, with the view of forming a new
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Lebanon, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
In 1720, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Lebanon’s post office opened in 1792, and the first U.S. census counted 960 people here in 1790.
How does Lebanon rank for history?
Lebanon is more historic than 97% of U.S. towns, #97 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. 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.
What is on the National Register in Lebanon?
7 listings: 7 buildings, among them the St. Lukes Episcopal Church (listed 1974, the first). 8 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Lebanon?
40% of Lebanon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1947.
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 (2), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (7), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1904
1905
