A Brief History of Lebanon, Ohio

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Four pioneer settlers, first laid out Lebanon, Ohio in September 1802. One hundred lots were carved out of a primitive forest of white oak, black walnut, elm and sycamore trees that had a thick undergrowth of spice brush. The town, cradled between Turtle Creek and its North Fork, was four and one half blocks long, and a mere three blocks wide.

Broadway and Main streets intersected in the middle of the plot and were the only streets named at the time. Broadway was 6 poles wide, a pole being 5-1/2 yards. It is said that it was this wide so that a stagecoach could turn completely around. All other streets were measured at 4 poles.

The boundaries of the first Lebanon were Silver Street to the north, South Street to the south, Water Street to the west and the alley between Cherry and East streets to the east. The four lots at the corner of Broadway and Main were reserved as the town square. Today two of the lots are still open areas or parks and the other two are public buildings - the City Hall and the Lebanon Public Library.

Settlers first arrived after the Treaty of Greenville was signed in August 1795. General "Mad" Anthony Wayne defeated the Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, near what it is now Toledo, in the summer of 1794. The following year at Fort Greenville the Indians signed the treaty opening southern Ohio to settlement. The first settler, in what is now Lebanon, was Ichabod Corwin, one of the city's four founding fathers. He and his family came in March of 1796. He built a cabin where Lucile Berry School now stands on North Broadway. Here he cleared twelve acres to plant corn. There is a monument to him in front of the school today.

Most of Lebanon lies within what was once the Symmes Purchase. Judge John Cleves Symmes, from New Jersey, had purchased 330,000 of acres between the Miami and the Little Miami rivers. He then sold sections of land to settlers. The Symmes Purchase, or Miami Purchase as it is also known, went from Cincinnati north to what is now Monroe Road in Lebanon.

Francis Dunlavy, the first teacher in the Miami Valley, came to what would be Lebanon in 1798. He opened his subscription school on what is now E. Main St. He taught only boys and held school six days a week. In 1799 he left teaching when he was elected to the legislature for the Northwest Territory. A couple of years later he would be one of the principal writers of Ohio's first constitution. In 1803 he began the first of two seven-year terms as president judge. His circuit covered ten counties in southwest Ohio.

Jonas Seaman, in December 1803, opened a tavern in Lebanon under the sign of the Golden Lamb. A log cabin inn at first, it changed names and owners several times during the 1800s. Its fourth floor was added in the late 1870's to house the workers bringing the railroad to Lebanon. Over the years thousands have experienced the hospitality of its congenial hosts. Ten presidents have dined there as well as such literary giants as Charles Dickens, Samuel Clemens and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Today it is honored as Ohio's oldest inn.

Lebanon was chosen to be the temporary county seat of Warren County in 1803. The county court was first held in the Black Horse Tavern. The cabin was built by Ichabod Corwin 1800 and was the first one in the original Lebanon plat. It was located on the east side of Broadway between Silver and Mulberry streets. Corwin later sold it to Ephraim Hathaway who operated the tavern.

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