Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

Lebanon, lying 1,265 feet above sea level, in Missouri's Central Ozarks, was founded in 1849 as the seat of newly organized Laclede County. Southern settlers named the town for Lebanon, Tenn. The county name honors the founder of St. Louis.

When Lebanon refused the South Pacific Railroad (now th Frisco) free land for a depot, the track was laid a mile from town, 1869. Later Lebanon moved to the railroad and the original site became "Old Town."

Novelist Howard Bell Wright (1872-1944) was pastor of the Christian Church here, 1905-1907. The setting of his "The Calling of Dan Matthews," published, 1909, is Lebanon. He also used Brice village and Bennett's Mill, both of which once stood in the state park, as background.

Bennett Spring State Park, scenic trout fishing resort, features a spring welling up a daily average of 71 million gallons from a gravelly basin 866 feet above sea level. The spring feeds the Niangua River. In 1924, the state bought the park, which lies in both Dallas and Laclede counties.

Lebanon lies midway between Rolla and Springfield, on historic Route 66. Pioneers traveled over an Indian trail through here which later became part of the St. Louis to Springfield Road. Cherokee Indians, on their "Trail of Tears" removal to Oklahoma in 1837, came along the road here.

During the Civil War, the pioneer road became a military highway. A telegraph line strung from Rolla, Mo., to Fort Smith, Ark., went along the road by 1862, and the telegraph route soon became known as "The Old Wire Road." Throughout the war, Lebanon was occupied alternately by Union and Confederate troops.

Lebanon is the birthplace of Governor Phil M. Donnelly, elected in 1944 and again in 1952, first in the state to be chosen to two four-year terms. Here lived Richard (Silver Dick) Bland, congressman, 1873-95, 1897-99; Joseph W. McClurg, governor, 1869-71; Negro educator William T. Vernon, Register of the U. S. Treasury, 1906-11. A memorial shaft marks the grave of McClurg in the Lebanon Cemetery and a statue of Bland stands on the courthouse lawn.

Comments (1)

Jim Kuntz: ... Harold Bell Wright left his Lebanon pastorate in December 1906. 1 May 19, 2008

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