The Lebanon Council of Garden Clubs and the Lebanon Station
The Lebanon Station is located at the junction of US 42 and SR 48 on South Broadway just one block south of the central business district. The history of the Station includes six years of negotiation, discouragements, physical labor, financial planning, labors of love and foreseeably, our $24,000 mortgage retired for 120 garden club wome
n. Quiet Negotiations began in January 1971 with the Penn-Central, owners of the property, to lease the land. It was overrun with weeds and used cars and on which stood a dilapidated freight station. The offer was to pay $1.00 a year to lease for 25 years, but Penn-Central was only interested in selling it for $25,000. which we could not afford. Penn-Central’s refusal to lease or sell to an unincorporated groups caused the four garden clubs to incorporate and form the Lebanon Council of Garden Clubs, Inc. In April 1972, the Penn-Central presented the deed to the property to the Council for the purchase price of $4,500. The site is bordered on the north side by a city street and the winding Turtle Creek on the south. The railroad tracks run along the south side of the building above the creek, which has been left in its natural setting. The old freight station was demolished and plans were drawn to build a replica of the original passenger station. The purpose of the new building was to be a meeting place and workshop for the garden clubs as well as a display center for our handcrafted gifts and arrangements, Our museum room contains railroad memorabilia collected with the aid of Penn-Central or donated by individuals. Bids were received from $24,000 to $35,000 for the new structure. Undaunted, the council without any funds since buying the land, borrowed the $24,000 on a signature note from a local bank. This was backed by $200 promissory notes from 90% of the women in the council. Many donations of materials, labor and cash have been received by Council for the Station. The roof is a donation of a gentleman in memory of his late wife; the grass around the Station was donated as sod and laid by high school boys. The Ohio Department of Transportation removed the dirt and cinders and a local group of businessmen provided the topsoil so landscaping could be done. Brick was donated for part of the walkway and the Council members were taught how to lay brick. Armco Steel Corp. provided a 60’ flagpole and the American Legion Auxiliary presented a flag, which was raised at the Grand Opening in May 1974. A 5-ton watchman’s tower was moved form the railroad yard at Reading, Ohio by Kendrick’s local movers and wreckers. The iron structure was taken to the Lebanon Correctional Institution where the inmates scraped and painted it. A local builder, Jim Duff, donated his time restoring the wooden structure with materials donated by local merchants. The old icehouse across the railroad tracks is a donation from the Middletown Ice and Coal Co. The semaphore signal was presented by the Kiwanis Club. Many cash memorials have been used for items in the building and many have been designed for use toward mortgage retirement. The landscaping master plan was drawn by local nurseryman, Ernie Irwin in conjunction with a committee from the Council. A Cedars of Lebanon tree from Beirut, Lebanon was planted in the Station grounds. Mayors from Lebanon towns in the United Stated were invited to Beirut for a conference of Lebanon Mayors and each was given a tree. In the spring of 1976, a unit of National Guard stationed in Lebanon cleaned the underbrush on the south side of the railroad tracks then graded and planted grass. In 1995, the Turtle Creek Valley Rail Road asked to rent part of the building so they could operate an excursion train out of Lebanon. The Council renovated the basement, furnished it as a meeting room and we share the building with them. The upstairs of the building was rented to the Turtle Creek Valley Rail Road between 1995 and 2008. to operate an excursion train. The basement was renovated and furnished as a meeting room during this time. In 2008. when they vacated the building, the upstairs was remodeled and a kitchen added to again be used as meeting space.
