Lebanon was chartered as a town by
colonial governor
Benning Wentworth on July 4, 1761, one of 16 along the Connecticut River. It was named for
Lebanon, Connecticut, from where many early settlers had come or would come, including the Rev.
Eleazar Wheelock, who arrived in 1770 and founded
Dartmouth College. Lebanon, Connecticut, was the original home of
Moor's Charity School, the antecedent of Dartmouth College. Early settlement concentrated along the
Connecticut River in what is now
West Lebanon, and in the
Mascoma Lake region near
Enfield. In the mid-19th century, a mill district developed at falls on the
Mascoma River. Industries included, at various times, furniture mills, a
tannery, several machine shops, a
woolen textile mill, and a clothing factory. In the mid-19th century, this district attracted many
French workers from
Canada's
Quebec province. This became the center of town, although West Lebanon grew into a
railroad hub with a separate identity after lines entered from Boston. This rail center would become known as "Westboro" after two trains collided when West Lebanon was mistaken for Lebanon. The mill district, like the railroad, declined into the 1950s and 1960s. The town suffered two major fires; the second, in 1964, destroyed a large portion of the old mill district. Reconstruction resulted in a controversial
urban renewal project featuring a closed-off district, called The Mall, built to replace the destroyed Hanover Street area. Partly in defiance of economic decline, and partly to counter a movement by West Lebanon to declare itself an independent town, Lebanon re-incorporated as a city in 1958. The routing of Interstates
89 and
91 through Lebanon and nearby
White River Junction, Vermont, in addition to the growth of
Dartmouth College, led to the area's economic revival. The former
mill town now has a mixed economy based on education, medical services, high-technology and retail. Just south of the village of West Lebanon, a major shopping district has sprung up at the intersection of
Route 12A and I-89. Lebanon has undertaken improvements to its recreational facilities, including miles of
hiking trails, a municipal
ski area, a swimming pool and several sports fields. In 1991, the
Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center, along with most departments of
Dartmouth Medical School, moved from Hanover to a new campus just south of the Lebanon-Hanover town line. A number of medical and high-tech firms have located facilities near the medical center campus.
TomTom, a leading worldwide developer of mapping databases, has its North American headquarters in Lebanon.
Novo Nordisk and
Microsoft also have major facilities here. Image:Old Town Hall, Lebanon, NH.jpg|Old Town Hall in 1918 Image:School Street, Lebanon, NH.jpg|School Street Image:Library, Lebanon, NH.jpg|Public Library Image:Bank Street in Lebanon, NH.jpg|Bank Street ==Geography==