Notable Historic Stories and Articles about
Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
Enjoy this growing list of interesting articles about the amazing history of Lebanon County.
(The articles are sorted under the following categories.)
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Buildings and Infrastructure - Business - Culture and Craftmanship
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A slice of history - Lebanon Bologna
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Before the Pennsylvania Farm Show, there was the Mt. Gretna Farmers’ Encampment
Ever wondered how ice would have been harvested at the Colebrook Ice Dam?
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How a local florist became one of Lebanon’s first ISPs, Nothing But Net
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How Chinese cuisine made its way into Lebanon County​
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How Italian restaurants got their start in Lebanon County
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How World War I ushered in the century of oil
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Krim’s beverages – the little Lebanon business that made a big splash in the soft drink world
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Krim Beverage — Lebanon's soft drink giant
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Lebanon County during Prohibition: Bootlegging, moonshine, & speakeasies
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Lebanon-made Miller Organs were shipped worldwide 150 years ago
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Past Calling: A factory and the boys who worked there
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Roll models: Remembering Lebanon roller rinks of decades past
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San Giorgio, the national pasta company born in Lebanon
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The Bon Ton: Remembering its 67 years as “Lebanon’s Greatest Store”
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Buildings and Infrastructure
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19th century Cornwall Iron Furnace steam engine gets needed overhaul
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110 years since the Lebanon Court House burned
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A beginner’s guide to the barn architecture of Lebanon County
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A Blast From The Past: Cornwall Iron Furnace
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A peek back at Lebanon’s once-elegant Colonial Theater (1923-2000)
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The Restoration of Cornwall’s Historic Alden Villa Mansion
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A long-lost Colebrook church and the American saint who founded it
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A look at the historic cottages of Mt. Gretna - (a Photo Story)
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A salute to the Samler Building, Lebanon’s downtown icon
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Boyer / Weaver Mansion: Do you remember the mansion on Maple Street?
Chestnut Street Log House, Lebanon, PA - (a Photo Story)
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Colebrook Mill deemed “At Risk” by PA preservation nonprofit
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Comfort Station in Downtown Lebanon was a good place to go
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Cornwall Manor’s Buckingham Mansion: An Elegant Estate Spanning 258 Years of Lebanon County History
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​Donaghmore Mansion and the historic Patch estate - ​on the Lebanon Catholic school property
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Heinrich Zeller House (Fort Zeller): Lebanon County’s secluded historical treasure
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Historic Annville mill in need of buyer to maintain “longest operating” status
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Historic Schaefferstown seeking state grant for Schaeffer House fireplace restoration
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Historic society holds walking tour of “at risk” Colebrook Mill
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Is the Lebanon Farmers Market, built on the site of a 19th-century prison and gallows, haunted?
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Isaac Meier Homestead: "The Old Fort" of Myerstown
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John Immel House: A Lost and Forgotten Lebanon County Landmark
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Key Drive-In—Lebanon’s drive-in theater: ​Through the decades
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Krall Barn to add new element at Union Canal Tunnel park, funding still needed
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LCBC plans to open a renovated Tabor Church as its 14th campus on April 7th
Lebanon County Courthouse: Remembering Lebanon’s most iconic landmark
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Let’s take a look at Lebanon’s historic Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Station
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​Light’s Fort a poster child for need of local historical preservation
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Local entrepreneur uncovering history of home to some of Lebanon’s finest
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Memories are all that remains of Mount Gretna’s Million Gallon Pool
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Northwest Elementary School served many in its 42-year history
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Once at risk, the Cornwall & Lebanon Railroad Station is a historic gem
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Palmyra UCC celebrates 125 years
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“Pennsylvania Alcatraz”: The maximum security prison planned for Mt. Gretna
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Red heads, blue eyes: The literary connections of Lebanon’s new public house
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Reflecting on the Gingrich Memorial Pool, pt. 1: Early history & design
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Reflecting on the Gingrich Memorial Pool, Pt. 2: Work & play
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Remembering Lebanon's First Modern City Hall Building (1873-1963)
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Schaefferstown boasts oldest gravitational conveyance pipe system in the United States
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The Colebrook Furnace ghost story
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The Colonial Theater - Gone but not forgotten
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The former Eagle Hotel/Hotel Weimer was once a symbol of luxury in Lebanon
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The Mann Building has stayed true to its historic purpose as a business hub
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The one-room schoolhouses that once made up rural education in Lebanon County
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The sad story of the six-level “Tower House” that once stood atop Mt. Gretna’s Governor Dick
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Where was the Good Samaritan Hospital’s first site in Lebanon?
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Weigley Mansion: Lebanon County's Most Magnificiant Historic House
Culture and Craftmanship
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100 years ago, Lebanon grappled with a very different pandemic—the Spanish flu
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20 years later, local historian discovers personal connection to Lebanon Regiment
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Custom-made grandfather clock brings Lebanon County history to life
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Flying over the Lebanon County of decades past
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How a Christmastime brawl in Myerstown ended up catching the attention of a few Pennsylvanian Founding Fathers
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How Lebanon County has celebrated Halloween across the generations
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In Search of Lebanon County’s African-American Heritage
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Local historian Bruce Bomberger on documenting the history of today
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Lebanon County: Small in Size – Rich in Heritage
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Lebanon County’s sweet, delicious, and cool ice cream history
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Lebanon Daily News photos, memorabilia donated to Lebanon County Historical Society
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Lebanon’s lost “Little Hollywood” sector and the Lebanon County Housing Authority
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Lebanon native helped design Starship Enterprise
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Lebanon’s most amazing geological feature, next to a long-forgotten resort in Cold Springs
Lebanon’s nightly playground dances of the 1950s-1970s
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Moravian Settlement, Bethel Township, Lebanon County
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Pennsylvania Dutch themed Christmas Cards
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Recounting Lebanon County’s brief UFO frenzy of the 1960s
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Revealing the Unique History of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, Clockmakers
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Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church recognized as Lutheran nexus
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Salem Lutheran’s past holds many lessons on history of religion in county
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St. John’s Episcopal Church in news has Lebanon County ties
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Tabor Day and the incredible journey of a Lebanon church
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The historical ties connecting the Pennsylvania State Police to Lebanon County
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The history of Lebanon’s Bologna Drop
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The Legend or Haunting of the Hounds of Colebrook Furnace: Lebanon County, PA
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The Meaning of St. Valentine’s Day, from the Daily News in 1914
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The Paxton Boys, an early case of viral fake news witnessed from Lebanon’s Hebron Moravian Church
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This is your chance to add to the list of Pennsylvania Historical Markers in Lebanon County
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This Presidents’ Day, remembering Lebanon’s links to our country’s highest elected office
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Throwing corn kernels (aka “tic-tacking”) is a long-time Mischief Night tradition for our region
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Wish you were here: Lebanon County postcards of decades past
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What’s in a name? The story behind every municipality name in Lebanon County
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Your guide to the long-abandoned underground passages of Lebanon, PA
Entertainment
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At the turn of the century, Valley Glen Park was the place to see and be seen
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Betty Harte, Lebanon’s silent film era star
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How Hollywood starlet Diana Gibson settled down in Mt. Gretna
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How the vaudeville-era star singers the Trix Sisters went from Newmanstown to international fame
Geography and Weather
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‘A cruel blow’: Tropical Storm Agnes devastated Pa. in 1972​
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A decades-long project almost dammed the Swatara Creek and radically altered northern Lebanon County
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A look back at some of the worst snowstorms in county history
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Gretna’s now-gone Lake Duffy was named after a Lackawanna County WWI hero
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Interesting Places
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Camp Strause began as a logging operation & favorite Boy Scout hangout
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Clarence Schock Memorial Park at Governor Dick
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Coleman Memorial Park - a history
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Governor Dick Observation Tower
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Lebanon County: Miners Village at the Cornwall Iron Furnace
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LebTowns: North Cornwall & Karinchville
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LebTowns: Toytown & the “Cornwall Commons”
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Market Square Service Station: Then and now
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Riding back in time at the Quentin Riding Club
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The stories behind six lesser-known historical markers that can be found in Lebanon County
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This Central Pennsylvania township does -- and doesn't -- exist - Cold Springs Township
Military and Wars
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93rd Regiment’s role in the Civil War
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Charles D. Marquette - Lebanon County's Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
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Finding a Lebanon connection in an unexpected place: Key West’s Fort Taylor
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Fort Swatara: Lebanon County’s garrison during the French and Indian War
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HMS Campbeltown, ​eight decades after it exploded in a strategic World War II raid, its bell resides peacefully in Campbelltown
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How Lebanon, PA witnessed World War One, which ended 100 years ago this week with Armistice
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Lebanon’s “Hiker” statue honors veterans from 3 turn-of-the-century conflicts
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New royal frigate will be named for WW2 warship with Campbelltown connection
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Remembering a few historic veterans that made Lebanon County proud
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Remembering when the PA National Guard helped defend the Mexican border after mustering in Mt. Gretna
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Story of man (now living in Lebanon County) held as Vietnam War POW now being preserved
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William L. Saylor: A Lebanon County Civil War Legend
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With National Medal of Honor Day, recalling origin of Gap’s Marquette Lake
People
Aaron McCord, Lebanon's Chief of Police, Murdered in the Line of Duty in 1890
Ann Coleman and James Buchanan (15th President of the United States)
Bible of the Eisenhauer family – ancestors of President Eisenhower – is undergoing conservation
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Charles D. Marquette - Lebanon County's Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
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Cleona’s Lorraine Koons embraced ‘Rosie The Riveter’s’ call to wartime service
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Clothes salesman, civic leader, Boy Scout patron: the life of John Sherman Bashore
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Pushnik brothers and how they established some of Lebanon’s favorite diners
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Former Lebanon reporter, Les Stewart, still unsettled by Palmyra slaying, 25 years after trial
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James Buchanan: Life Before the Presidency (a Lebanon County Connection)
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Lindley Murray, the Harper Tavern native who left behind an educational legacy in Lebanon and beyond
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Luther Harpel - Lebanon's Pioneering Photographer
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Matchbook mix-up: a Lebanon genius, Charles Bowman, is finally getting credit for his invention
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More than 50 years later, unsolved Peggy Reber murder still haunts Lebanon
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Past Calling: The man with the umbrella
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Sarah Tyson Rorer, the pioneering dietician who moved to Colebrook
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Remembering Tim Stine on the anniversary of the 1990 HACC fire in downtown Lebanon
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The life and legend of Joseph Johns, escaped slave and Union Township mountain man
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William L. Saylor: A Lebanon County Civil War Legend
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Who was Henry Houck, the beloved ‘Apostle of Sunshine’?
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Sports
100 years since Babe Ruth played for Lebanon
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A look back at Lebanon Valley College’s trip to the NCAA Tournament
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A still unrecognized victory: When the Pottsville Maroons “won” the NFL Championship
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Boro Rams, the Bologna Bowl, and the heyday of Lebanon’s independent football teams
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Dick Shiner - Lebanon's Longtime NFL Quarterback
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Fifty years before Jackie Robinson: the Lebanon Grays, the Cuban Giants, and the Middle States League
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Frank Reich - Lebanon's High School, College and NFL Quarterback & NFL Indianapolis Colts Head Coach
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Hometown heavy-hitters: Lebanon’s famous baseball players​
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Jamie Beyerle Corkish - Lebanon's Olympic Gold Medalist
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Kerry Collins - Lebanon's High School, College and longtime NFL Quarterback Star
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Past Calling: Lebanon High’s 1913 football stars
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Sam Bowie - Lebanon's High School, College, U.S. Olympics and NBA Basketball Star
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Taking a few laps back into Lebanon’s little-known racing history
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When John Heisman coached a Penn football team in Mt. Gretna
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When Lebanon Valley met Happy Valley: Penn State’s 109-7 blowout of LVC
Transportation
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How Lebanon welcomed the motorcycle fad of the early 1900s and provided riders for World War I
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Trolley cars: Before World War II they were the best way to get around Lebanon City
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Trolley Car era in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania - (1891 1942) - (Video)
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When Robert Coleman’s two-foot railway snaked through the hills of Mount Gretna