Site of Lebanon

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Site of Lebanon, out in Collin County. Now, every good Texas town story starts with something drawing folks in, and for Lebanon, it was about as simple and honest a pitch as you could make. Free land.

Clear spring water. Plenty of timber. That was the offer waiting for settlers who came rolling into this part of Texas after it opened for settlement as part of the Peters Colony.

And you know what? A good number of them looked around, liked what they saw, and decided to stay. They named the place Lebanon, staked out their homes, and got to work turning raw land into a farming community.

Things started taking shape in a hurry. Z. T.

Rainey opened a general store in 1858; that's your first sign a settlement means business, when somebody decides there's enough people around to sell dry goods to. Then on March 1, 1860, the U.S. Postal Service made it official, granting Lebanon its very own post office, with a man named Phillip Huffman stepping in as first postmaster.

A post office means you're on the map. People know you exist. Mail finds you.

But Rainey's general store didn't make it through the Civil War. It closed. Lebanon, like everywhere else, felt that weight.

Still, and here's where Lebanon showed some genuine staying power, other businesses soon came to fill the gap. And they had good reason to, because Lebanon sat right on the route of the historic Preston Road, also known as the Shawnee Trail. That was the north-south corridor that cattle drivers depended on, and a town sitting on a working trail doesn't lack for traffic.

Cowboys moving herds found Lebanon a popular stopping place, and a popular stopping place has a way of growing. Grow it did. Through the 1880s and into the 1890s, Lebanon filled out into something you'd recognize as a proper town: a blacksmith shop, a dry goods store, a saddlery, churches, doctors' offices, a hotel, a tavern, and other businesses besides.

And in 1885, the community built a two-story union school to serve its schoolchildren. Two stories. That's ambition.

That's a town that figures it's going somewhere. Then came 1902, and the railroad. The St.

Louis and San Francisco Railroad was threading its way through this part of Texas, and a town on the line was a town with a future. A town the railroad bypassed... well. The railroad bypassed Lebanon.

And what followed was an exodus: residents, businesses, whole pieces of the town picking up and moving to the new railroad town of Frisco. When the railroad doesn't come to you, you go to the railroad. That's just how it worked.

Lebanon hung on for a while. But the school closed in 1947. And by 1959, fewer than a dozen homes remained.

By the time the 21st century dawned, only three buildings from the original townsite were still standing. Free land, clear spring water, plenty of timber; that's what built Lebanon. One railroad decision, going the other way, is what undid it.

But the marker out in Collin County makes sure the history of Lebanon stays alive, folded into the urban and suburban development that now fills this part of the county. The town may be gone, but it's not forgotten. Not quite.

What the marker says

Settlers traveling to this area of Texas after it opened for settlement as part of the Peters Colony found free land, clear spring water and plenty of timber. Those who decided to stay named it Lebanon and began to establish homes and farms. On March 1, 1860, the U.S. Postal Service granted a post office to Lebanon, with Phillip Huffman serving as first postmaster. Although a general store begun by Z. T. Rainey in 1858 closed during the Civil War, other businesses soon were established. Located on the route of the historic Preston Road/Shawnee Trail, Lebanon was a popular stopping place for cattle drivers who used that road as their north-south route. Primarily a farming community, the town grew in the 1880s and 1890s to include a blacksmith shop, dry goods store, a saddlery, churches, doctors' offices, a hotel, tavern and other businesses. A two-story union school was built in 1885 to serve the schoolchildren in the community. In 1902, the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad bypassed Lebanon, which resulted in an exodus of residents and businesses to the new railroad town of Frisco. The school closed in 1947, and by 1959 there were fewer than a dozen homes remaining in Lebanon. As the 21st century dawned, only three buildings stood from the original townsite, but the history of Lebanon remains as a part of the urban and suburban development in this part of Collin County. (2002)