Located in the rolling hills of Clinch Mountain, the Town of Lebanon serves as the county seat for Russell County in Southwest Virginia. Nearly 200 years old, Lebanon was established by the General Assembly as the Town of Lebanon on January 15, 1819, and was chartered January 4, 1831. The many cedar trees in the area are believed to have inspired the town’s name, drawn from the biblical reference, “Cedars of Lebanon.”

For many decades, farming and coal mining drove our economy. However by 1988, Lebanon was struggling due to a downturn in the coal industry. Unemployment rates rose to 14 percent, and many laid-off coal miners as well as talented high school and college graduates had to leave to find jobs.

This mass exit was alarming to town leaders, and they knew drastic measures had to be taken. Over time, a master plan emerged to transform Lebanon into a knowledge-based economy that would no longer be dependent on coal and agriculture. Read More…