History of Lebanon, Oregon

This is the story of Lebanon, Oregon, most westerly and progressive of all the Lebanons. It is a story of a town founded by American wagon-train pioneers who searched a vast continent for a land where they could build their homes and sink their ploughs. They found it in late autumn of 1847 when Jeremiah Ralston halted his train of three wagons in what is now Lebanon, Oregon. Jeremiah was the first to map the town and name it. He chose the name because the many cedar trees by the river made him think of the Biblical references to the cedars of Lebanon and partly because of sentiment for his birth place – Lebanon, Tennessee.