Lebanon, Connecticut
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{{for|other places with the same name|Lebanon (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox Settlement
|official_name = Lebanon, Connecticut
|settlement_type = [[New England town|Town]]
|image_skyline =
|imagesize =
|image_caption =
|image_map = CTMap-doton-Lebanon.png
|mapsize = 250x200px
|map_caption = Location in Connecticut
|image_map1 =
|mapsize1 =
|map_caption1 =
|subdivision_type = [[NECTA]]
|subdivision_name = Hartford
|subdivision_type1 = Region
|subdivision_name1 = Windham Region
|established_title = Incorporated
|established_date = 1700
|subdivision_type2 =
|subdivision_name2 =
|government_type = [[Board of selectmen|Selectman-town meeting]]
|leader_title = First selectman
|leader_name = Joyce R. Okonuk
|area_magnitude =
|area_total_km2 = 143.0
|area_land_km2 = 140.2
|area_water_km2 = 2.9
|area_total_sq_mi = 55.2
|population_as_of = 2005
|population_total = 7334
|population_footnotes = <ref>[http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/files/SUB-EST2005_9.csv U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates]</ref>
|population_density_km2 = 52
|population_density_sq_mi = 136
|timezone = [[Eastern Standard Time Zone|Eastern]]
|utc_offset = -5
|timezone_DST = [[Eastern Standard Time Zone|Eastern]]
|utc_offset_DST = -4
|area_land_sq_mi = 54.1
|area_water_sq_mi = 1.1
|elevation_m = 152
|elevation_ft = 499
|latd = 41 |latm = 37 |lats = 57 |latNS = N
|longd = 72 |longm = 14 |longs = 24 |longEW = W
|region =
|postal_code_type = ZIP code
|postal_code = 06249
|website = http://www.lebanontownhall.org/
|area_code = [[Area code 860|860]]
|blank_name = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info = 09-42390
|blank1_name = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info = 0213449
|footnotes =
}}
'''Lebanon''' is a [[New England town|town]] in [[New London County, Connecticut|New London County]], [[Connecticut]], [[United States]]. The population was 6,907 at the 2000 census. The town lies just to the northwest of [[Norwich, Connecticut|Norwich]], 20 miles north of [[New London, Connecticut|New London]], and 20 miles east of [[Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford]]. The farming town is best known for its role in the [[American Revolution]], where it was a major base of American operations, and its historic town Green, the largest in the nation and the only one still used partially for agriculture.
==History==
===From Poquechaneed to Lebanon===
Lebanon was originally settled by the [[Mohegan]] [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indians]], an [[Algonquian languages|Algonquin]]-speaking tribe that inhabited the upper [[Thames River (Connecticut|Thames]] Valley in eastern Connecticut. The area was known as '''Poquechaneed''', and used primarily for hunting.<ref>Alicia Wayland, Ed Tollman, Claire S. Krause, ''Images of America: Lebanon.'' (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2004). p. 7</ref>
The town of Lebanon has its origins with the settlers of Norwich, who wanted to expand beyond the “nine miles square” they had bought from the Mohegan [[sachem]] [[Uncas]]. In [[1663]], the first grant in the area was given in to Maj. [[John Mason (c.1600–1672)|John Mason]], deputy governor of the Connecticut colony; the next year, Mason accepted 500 acres northwest of Norwich. This area, known as "Pomakuck" or "Pomocook" by the Mohegans, is now the Goshen Hill area of Lebanon. In [[1666]], Connecticut granted an additional 120 acres to the Rev. James Fitch, minister of Norwich, adjacent to Maj. Mason's land which was now known as Cedar Swamp. The Mohegans conferred their blessing on the grants by giving an additional seven-mile strip to Maj. Mason's son in [[1675]], who split the land with the Rev. Fitch, his father-in-law. This area is now known as "Fitch and Mason's Mile," or just "The Mile."<ref>[http://www.lebanontownhall.org/trumbulltownhist3.htm Lebanon Town Hall: History of Lebanon, CT]</ref> In 1692, Uncas' son, Sachem Oweneco, sold twenty-five miles to four men from Norwich and [[Stonington, Connecticut|Stonington]] (including Sam Mason, another son of Maj. Mason), known as the "Five Mile Purchase" or "Five Mile Square" (being five miles on each side). With the Purchase, most of the modern-day town of Lebanon was established.<ref>[http://www.lebanontownhall.org/trumbulltownhist3.htm Lebanon Town Hall: History of Lebanon, CT]</ref>
The town of Lebanon, Connecticut was incorporated by the General Assembly of the Connecticut Colony on October 10, [[1700]]. The town's name was the idea of one of the Rev. Fitch's sons, because of "the height of the land, and a large [[cedar]] forest."<ref>M.E. Perkins, Old Houses of the Ancient Town of Norwich, 1660-1800 [1895], p. 97</ref> Lebanon was the first town in Connecticut colony to be given a Biblical name.<ref>[http://www.lebanontownhall.org/trumbulltownhist.htm Lebanon Town Hall: History of Lebanon, CT]</ref>
==="Heartbeat of the Revolution"===
Connecticut’s war effort during the Revolutionary War was directed from the War Office on the Green and the adjacent [[John Trumbull Birthplace| home of Gov. Jonathan Trumbull Sr]].
One of the signers of the [[Declaration of Independence]], [[William Williams (signer)|William Williams]], was a native of Lebanon, and son-in-law to the governor, Jonathon Trumbull.
Jonathon Trumbull was the only British colonial governor to side with the rebel forces during the Revolution. Trumbull served as one of [[George Washington]]'s chief quartermasters, convening a Council of Safety to manage the affairs of the Continental Army. The council met over 1,100 times, mostly in Trumbull's own house on the Lebanon Green. <ref>[http://www.lebanontownhall.org/historic_1.asp] War Office page of the Trumbull Town Hall Web site, accessed [[July 22]], [[2006]]</ref> Trumbull was also paymaster general for the Northern Department of the Continental Army, and the first comptroller of the young nation's treasury during the war.
Trumbull's children were also influential in the war effort: [[Joseph Trumbull delegate|Joseph Trumbull]] was a colonel in the [[Continental Army]], [[Jonathon Trumbull, Jr.]] was secretary to George Washington, and [[John Trumbull]] served first as a soldier and then as Washington's personal aide during the war.
In the winter and spring of 1781 (from November 1780 to June 21, 1781),<ref name=sel>[http://www.americanrevolution.org/lauzun.html] Selig, Robert A, "The Duc de Lauzun and his Legion: Rochambeau's most troublesome, colorful soldiers," at AmericanRevolution.org Web site, retrieved [[August 1]], [[2006]]</ref> the French [[Armand Louis de Gontaut|duc de Lauzun's]] Legion of Horse, comprising 220 soldiers, encamped in Lebanon. Though the legion became infamous later for disorderliness, dueling, and pillaging, they were generally well behaved,<ref name=Ifkovic>Ifkovic, John W., ''Connecticut's Nationalist Revolutionary: Jonathan Trumbull, Junior,'' 1977, American Revolution Bicentennial Commission of Connecticut, The New Era Printing Company Inc., Deep River, Connecticut, p. 55; Ifkovic cites Ricketts, Rowland Jr., "The French in Lebanon, 1780-1781," ''The Connecticut Historical Society Bulletin,'' XXXVI (January 1971), pp. 23-31</ref>, and Lebanon saw only two officers executed by firing squad for attempted desertion.<ref name=sel/> The local economy benefited from the troops' extended stay, but not significantly.<ref name=Ifkovic/> In June, the soldiers rode off toward [[White Plains, New York|White Plains]], [[New York]]. Lauzun remarked later in his memoirs, "Siberia alone can furnish any idea of Lebanon, which consists of a few huts scattered among vast forests.".<ref name=sel/>
The importance of the Trumbull family and Lebanon itself to the war effort earned the town the nickname "Heartbeat of the Revolution."<ref>Alicia Wayland, Ed Tollman, Claire S. Krause, ''Images of America: Lebanon.'' (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2004). p. 7</ref>
===Into the 19th and 20th centuries===
Joseph Trumbull, father of Jonathon Trumbull, Sr., brought livestock farming to the town in 1704, and by 1730 Lebanon had the largest meat-packing industry in Connecticut.<ref>Alicia Wayland, Ed Tollman, Claire S. Krause, ''Images of America: Lebanon.'' (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2004). p. 57</ref> Agriculture has since been the primary focus of the town. Lebanon entered a period of gentle decline after the Revolution; with the death of Jonathon Trumbull, Jr. in 1809, the Trumbull family left Lebanon<ref>[http://www.lebanontownhall.org/trumbullheartbeat.htm Lebanon Town Hall: History of Lebanon, CT]</ref> and the town's political significance fell.
Nonetheless, as the towns around it commercialized and modernized, Lebanon maintained its focus on agriculture, and remained a dedicated farming town. It was this characteristic that brought a major wave of immigration in the early 20th century. After the expulsion of pacifist [[Mennonite]]s from the [[Ukraine]] in the mid-1800s, German farmers settled in the areas they had vacated. Political troubles in [[Russian Empire|Russia]] and the onset of the [[World War I|First World War]] encouraged many of these to flee to America. Karlswalde, a village near [[Ostroh|Ostrog]], saw its entire population leave. One emigrant, Philip Krause, settled in the Village Hill area of Lebanon. The town offered similar terrain and fertile farming ground, and by 1928, twelve families of Karlswalde had been moved to the Lebanon neighborhood. Many of these families are still present and active in Lebanon today, and exhibited a major influence on the town's culture.<ref>Alicia Wayland, Ed Tollman, Claire S. Krause, ''Images of America: Lebanon.'' (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2004). p. 69</ref>
The Liberty Hill neighborhood was the commercial center of town for most of the 19th century and into the 20th. Holding the town's post office, as well as two general stores, its was Lebanon's primary link to the larger Connecticut and New England community. The area maintained its importance into the 1930s and 1940s.<ref>Alicia Wayland, Ed Tollman, Claire S. Krause, ''Images of America: Lebanon.'' (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2004). p. 31-32</ref> The greater availability of telephones in private residences, the improvement of roads and the introduction of highways, and the increase of personal cars for commuting to surrounding towns, all meant that individuals had less need to restrict themselves to close-by conveniences. Liberty Hill nonetheless remains one of Lebanon's primary neighborhoods.
Lebanon saw no less than 10% of its residents leave to fight in the [[World War II|Second World War]].ref>Alicia Wayland, Ed Tollman, Claire S. Krause, ''Images of America: Lebanon.'' (Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2004). p. 99</ref> The [[Memorial Day]] parade is still one of the town's largest annual celebrations.
==Lebanon today==
Economically, the town has large agricultural and service sectors, the largest employers being farms and the school system. KofKoff Egg Farms, Connecticut's largest egg producer, maintains a farm in the town. The Lebanon Country Fair, seasonally the earliest fair held in Connecticut, is known for its [[agricultural show]]s. The Lebanon School District is responsible for the town's three schools, including [[Lyman Memorial High School]], with total enrollment of over 1500 students. The town's historic [[Commons|Common]], or Green, is a mile in length and the largest in the nation. It is the site of many of Lebanon's most prominent past citizens' homes, including Gov. Trumbull and [[William Beaumont]]. Three churches (First [[Congregational Church]] of Lebanon, Lebanon [[Baptist Church]] and [[Saint Francis of Assisi]] [[Roman Catholic Church]]) are also located on the Lebanon Green. The Redeemer [[Lutheran Church]] is located at the "Village Hill" area of town, with the Lebanon Bible Church and Goshen [[Congregational Church]] located in the "Goshen" area of town. A town museum was recently constructed as well.
==Notable residents, present and past==
[[Image:JohnTrumbull.jpg|frame|right|Gov. Jonathan Trumbull]]
*'''[[Jonathan Trumbull, Sr.]]''' (1710–1785), governor of Connecticut, father of Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., and a strong supporter of Washington during the [[American Revolutionary War]], studied theology in Lebanon and later died in the town, where he is buried (''portrait at right'')
*'''[[Eleazar Wheelock]]''' (1711-1779), The Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, Congregational minister, orator, educator, and founder of Dartmouth College, was born 22 Apr 1711 in Windham, Connecticut.
*'''[[William Williams (signer)|William Williams]]''' (1731–1811), merchant and delegate for Connecticut to the [[Second Continental Congress]] in 1776, where he signed the [[Declaration of Independence]]. Son-in-law of Jonathon Trumbull, Sr.
*'''[[Joseph Trumbull (delegate)|Joseph Trumbull]]''' (1737–1778), a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1774 (did not attend sessions), and [[colonel]] in the [[Continental Army]]. He served as one of the Commissary Generals. Son of Jonathon Trumbull, Sr.
*'''[[John Trumbull]]''' (1756–1843), famous American artist, born in town. Son of Jonathon Trumbull, Sr.
*'''[[Jonathan Trumbull, Jr.]]''' (1740-1809), served as General [[George Washington|George Washington's]] secretary during the American Revolution; later eight-term governor of the state. Son of Jonathon Trumbull, Sr.
*'''[[Joseph Trumbull (governor)|Joseph Trumbull]]''' (1782–1861), represented Connecticut in the U.S. Congress and served as governor. Grandson of Jonathan Trumbull, Sr.
*'''[[William Beaumont]]''' (1785-1853), the "Father of Gastric Physiology," whose book describing digestion, published in 1833, became a classical medical study still used today.
*'''[[Ralph Randolph Gurley|Ralph Gurley]]''' (1797-1872), a clergyman, chaplain of the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]], and an influential figure in the [[American Colonization Society]], which offered passage to their colony in west Africa (now [[Liberia]]), to free black Americans.
*'''[[William Alfred Buckingham]]''' (1804-1875) Born in Lebanon, Conn., May 28, 1804, died Feb. 3, 1875. Educated in the public school system and entered the mercantile business at 21, in Norwich. Elected Mayor, 1849, 50,56, and 57. Elected Governor of Connecticut, 1858 for seven terms. Served during the Civil War. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1868 and died in office.
*'''[[Nelson Dewey]]''' (1813-1889), first governor of Wisconsin (1848-1852) at the age of 35, born in town.
==Geography==
According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the town has a total area of 55.2 [[square mile]]s (143.1 [[km²]]), of which, 54.1 square miles (140.1 km²) of it is land and 1.1 square miles (2.9 km²) of it (2.05%) is water. Gates Hill, at 660 ft., is the highest point in the town and in New London County.
==Demographics==
[[Image:LebanonCT-seal.jpg|frame|right|The town seal]]
As of the [[census]]{{GR|2}} of 2000, there were 6,907 people, 2,446 households, and 1,934 families residing in the town. The [[population density]] was 127.6 people per square mile (49.3/km²). There were 2,820 housing units at an average density of 52.1/sq mi (20.1/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 96.89% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 0.81% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 0.39% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], 0.26% [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]], 0.06% [[Pacific Islander (U.S. Census)|Pacific Islander]], 0.49% from [[Race (United States Census)|other races]], and 1.10% from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race were 1.65% of the population.
There were 2,446 households out of which 38.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.4% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.9% were non-families. 15.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.09.
In the town the population was spread out with 28.0% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 31.0% from 25 to 44, 26.0% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 101.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.2 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $61,173, and the median income for a family was $63,198. Males had a median income of $45,952 versus $35,594 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the town was $25,784. About 1.5% of families and 2.3% of the population were below the [[poverty line]], including 2.0% of those under age 18 and 3.7% of those age 65 or over.
{| class=wikitable
! colspan = 6 | Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of October 25, 2005<ref>{{cite web|title = Registration and Party Enrollment Statistics as of October 25, 2005 | publisher = Connecticut Secretary of State | format = PDF | accessdate = 2006-10-02 | url = http://www.sots.ct.gov/ElectionsServices/lists/2005OctRegEnrollStats.pdf}}</ref>
|-
! colspan = 2 | Party
! Active Voters
! Inactive Voters
! Total Voters
! Percentage
{{American politics/party colours/Republican/row}}
| [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| align = center | 1,195
| align = center | 40
| align = center | 1,235
| align = center | 25.72%
{{American politics/party colours/Democratic/row}}
| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| align = center | 1,178
| align = center | 49
| align = center | 1,227
| align = center | 25.56%
{{American politics/party colours/Independent/row}}
| Unaffiliated
| align = center | 2,216
| align = center | 119
| align = center | 2,335
| align = center | 48.64%
{{American politics/party colours/Libertarian/row}}
| Minor Parties
| align = center | 4
| align = center | 0
| align = center | 4
| align = center | 0.08%
|-
! colspan = 2 | Total
! align = center | 4,593
! align = center | 208
! align = center | 4,801
! align = center | 100%
|}
==References==
<references />
==External links==
*[http://www.lebanontownhall.org/ Official town government Web site]
*[http://lebanonctlibrary.org/ Jonathan Trumbull Library], the town public library
*[http://www.jtrumbulljr.org/ Jonathan Trumbull, Junior House Museum]
*[http://www.tourism.state.ct.us/tourism_regions/default.asp?region=mysticcountry Mystic Country: The Eastern Regional Tourism District]
*[http://www.historyoflebanon.org/ Lebanon Historical Society]
*[http://www.lebanonfirstcong.org/ First Congregational Church of Lebanon (UCC)]
{{Connecticut}}
{{New London County, Connecticut}}
[[Category:New London County, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Towns in Connecticut]]
[[fr:Lebanon (Connecticut)]]
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