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Take a journey with the Lebanon High School Class of ’67 through some of the best years of our lives, 1963 to 1967!

On the “About Us” page, read about officers and musicians, athletes and scholars.  Find information on our fellow classmates in “Classmates.”  Review the calendar of events in “Events.”  Remember our beloved classmates on the “In Memory” page.

Find information on upcoming events in “What’s New.”  And search for a specific person or topic at the “Q” icon.  For some interesting information about Lebanon, Tennessee, continue reading.  Enjoy!

Lebanon Tennessee and Wilson County–

Fascinating History Unknown to Others

Maggie Porter Cole and Thomas Rutling were two of the original singers of the Fisk Jubilee Singers of Nashville’s Fisk University. They were both from Lebanon, born into slavery, but grew up to sing for kings and queens all over the world!

“Lean” Jimmie Jones was the only Tennessee governor born in Lebanon. The concept of “stump speeches” began during his political debates across Tennessee with future president James K. Polk of Columbia. 

Dixon Lanier Merritt was born in the Rocky Valley community just south of Lebanon, and became editor of The Tennessean newspaper.  He wrote the famous limerick “The Pelican,” often mistakenly attributed to Ogden Nash.  (“A wonderful bird is the pelican, his beak can hold more than his belly can . . . .”)

Cumberland University was established in Lebanon in 1842. Nobel Peace Prize winner Cordell Hull, known as the “Father of the United Nations,” was graduated from Cumberland School of Law. On a more infamous note, Cumberland holds the record of the worse college football defeat in history: in 1916, Georgia Tech defeated Cumberland 222-0!

Andrew Jackson was co-owner of a store on the square in Lebanon, where the old courthouse was later built. In the late 1700s, Jackson owned a farm in Gladeville.  In 1800, he sold the land which later became known as Gladeville’s “Rice Farm.” (The farm is now owned by classmate Tommy Hunter, a descendant of the Rice family.)

Sam Houston was a friend of Andrew Jackson.  In 1818, he practiced law in Lebanon.  His office was just east of the Lebanon town square.  In 1828, Houston held a political rally for Jackson’s presidential campaign, seven miles west of town along Lebanon Road.  Houston later became the only person to serve as Governor of two states, Tennessee and Texas.

W.E.B. Dubois was the most prominent civil rights leader of the first half of the 20^th century.  After he was graduated from Fisk University, Dubois taught for two years at a rural school south of Lebanon near Watertown.

Syd Harkreader was one of the early stars of the Grand Ole Opry radio show. The fiddler was born just southwest of Lebanon, at Gladeville.  Harkreader teamed up with banjo player and singer Uncle Dave Macon.

General George Patton spent time in Lebanon during World War II. From 1942 to 1944, Patton was in charge of the WW II maneuvers throughout Wilson County, with headquarters at Cumberland University.  In an interesting bit of trivia, controversial “Chicago 7” trial lawyer William Kunstler was one of the soldiers.  Kunstler and his wife were expecting a child, so he was allowed to rent an upstairs apartment above Philpot’s Funeral Home on West Spring Street, just across the street from Cumberland.

John Coffee “Jack” Hays was born west of Lebanon in the Little Cedar Lick community at Mt. Juliet, on January 28, 1817. In the 1840s, Hays was an early leader of the famed Texas Rangers. He fought against the Comanche and was commander of a regiment of Texas Rangers during the Mexican-American War.  Hays was a grand nephew of Andrew Jackson.

Col. John Morgan became famous for “Morgan’s Raid” north into the United States during the civil war.  In 1862, he occupied Lebanon and stayed in a house on North Cumberland Street.  One morning Union soldiers mounted a sudden attack on Lebanon, with some of the Confederate soldiers firing from a building at the site of the Capital Theater on Main Street.  Morgan and his men skedaddled east toward Carthage.  Their escape was so chaotic that Morgan fled without his beloved horse Black Bess, and the event became known as “The Lebanon Races”!

Davy Crockett’s daughter, Margaret Ann Crockett, married Wily Flowers and moved to Wilson County, around 1835. Davy’s last letter was sent to Margaret from Texas.  The address on the outside of the letter simply read “Wilson County, Tennessee.”  (Where exactly in Wilson County appears to be lost to history.)