Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 70% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Schoenicke Barn. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1955 on, and old-book passages.
The Lebanon post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 70% 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 70% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
Wisconsin towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Wisconsin town has 3.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Lebanon’s 6.8 sits above most of its state (69% of Wisconsin towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lebanon.
The first settlers were part of the Old Lutheran migration from Prussia in 1843. Johann Schley, a master tailor who was one of the settlers, proposed the name Lebanon ("Libanon" in German) for their community "because it dwelt on the hillside and looked down on the tamarack trees, which bore a resemblance to the cedars that grew on Lebanon's mountains".
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Lebanon, cut from the printed page as they were published.
the town of Rubicon, saw and gfist mills are supplied with power from the Rubicon River at several points, while Ashippun River, as it passes through the southeastern corner of the town of Ashippun, is utilized in the same manner. Rock River passes out of Dodge County in Section 36, town of Lebanon, but returns, as if loath to leave so beautiful a spot, and makes its force felt again (in the town of Emmet) before winding its weary way to the mother stream. Tlie entire area drained by Rock River and its tributaries in Wisconsin is 3,635 square miles. The collection area above Horicon is 436 square miles, upon which the annual rainfall is estimated at 30,387,456,000 cubic feet. Allowing one-half for evaporation, filtration and other sources of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the town of Rubicon, saw and grist mills are supplied with power from the Rubicon River at several points, while Ashippun River, as it passes through the southeastern corner of the town of Ashippun, is utilized in the same manner. Rock River passes out of Dodge County in Section 36, town of Lebanon, but returns, as if loath to leave so beautiful a spot, and makes its force felt again (in the town of Emmet) before winding its weary way to the mother stream. The entire area drained by Rock River and its tributaries in Wisconsin is 3,635 square miles. The collection area above Horicon is 436 square miles, upon which the annual rainfall is estimated at 30,387,456,000 cubic feet. Allowing one-half for evaporation, filtration and other sources of
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.
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 · +15The 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.
Nobody well known was born in Lebanon itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Lebanon’s post office has been open since 1878.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Lebanon post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Lebanon is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns. 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.
One place: the Schoenicke Barn (listed 1979).
33% of Lebanon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 12% for a Wisconsin town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
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