June 2018

130 131 LEBANON, NEWHAMPSHIRE THRIVING AND PROGRESSIVE L ebanon, New Hampshire, a city of 13,500, located in the west central part of the state, near the Connecticut River, was first chartered as a town by Colonial Gover- nor Benning Wentworth on July 4, 1761. Among its early setters was the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, who arrived in 1770, and founded Dartmouth College in nearby Hanover. In the mid-19th century, a mill district developed at the falls on the Mascoma River, a tributary of the Connecticut, which runs through the town. Industries included, at various times, fur- niture mills, a tannery, several machine shops, a woolen textile mill, and a clothing factory. The old mill district began to decline in the 1950s, and a major fire in 1964 destroyed a large number of buildings. They were replaced by “The Mall,” a large shopping center across the way from City Hall and near Colburn Park, the city’s “Green.” Today, Lebanon, which in- corporated as a city in 1958, is home to Dart- mouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) and is an Upper Valley hub of employment.With AT A GLANCE LEBANON, NEW HAMPSHIRE WHAT: A city of 13,500 WHERE: The west central part of the state, near the Connecti- cut River WEBSITE: www.lebanonnh.gov