Lebanon Commercial District

Lebanon's downtown commercial district covers about 12 acres at the crossing of Broadway and Main Street, in the town plat laid out in 1802. Roughly fifty two- and three-story brick buildings, many sharing party walls, line the sidewalks, with larger structures marking the corners. The Golden Lamb inn, first built in 1815, and the spire-topped City Hall of 1934 anchor the district. Italianate storefronts from the 1850s to 1880s are the most common type, joined by the 1906 Carnegie Library, the 1913 Georgian Revival Harmon Hall, the 1910 Citizens National Bank and a 1937 post office. The district matters because it served as the commercial, entertainment and institutional center of a county seat and stagecoach stop, with newspapers, printing, inns, livery stables and professional offices. Its turn-of-the-century scale and appearance remain largely intact, even though surrounding areas have been altered by demolition and surface parking.