LEBANON -- Even though only two cabins were standing in 1802, Ichabod Corwin and four other early settlers plotted 100 lots.
They anticipated a town that would teem with commercial and residential activity.
A surveyor laid out Broadway "six poles wide" so a stagecoach could turn completely around on the community's main artery.
"They planned for Lebanon to be a hub," area historian John Zimkus said.
Nearly 200 years later, some city leaders and residents aren't sure they like the idea of Lebanon as a hub for commercial and residential growth.
Its proximity to Cincinnati and Dayton, coupled with the trends of suburban flight and longer commutes, has created a community at a crossroads.
Lebanon's population has jumped 31 percent since 1990, from 10,453 to an estimated 13,700 this year.
City Manager Richard Hayward expects 3,000 more residents by 2010.
Business owners and residents say the city needs to develop a single vision of its future, to find a way to champion economic development and to protect Lebanon's small-town atmosphere. But it's not going to be easy. The city's growing pains have manifested into vitriolic city council meetings, a recall election, claims of racial discrimination, and a lawsuit filed by the mayor and a councilman against fellow council members.
Still, no real decisions have been made about whether to slow the development or embrace it.
The growth is straining city services. In only five years, calls to the police department for service increased from 12,187 in 1992 to 20,070 in 1997.
The city has added 25 miles of roads in the past decade, compounding the work of the sewer and streets departments.
Schools also have been affected. The Lebanon City School District in five years grew by more than 1,000 students.
