Tour spotlights local history

Historic Lebanon Tomorrow's fifth annual Historic Places Tour will be held Saturday from 5-8:30 p.m.

Six sites will be featured in this year's tour, which highlights several of Lebanon’s historic homes and structures. By shining a light on these local treasures, Historic Lebanon Tomorrow hopes to increase awareness of Lebanon’s history and stress the importance of local preservation efforts. HLT’s mission is to actively pursue the revitalization of Lebanon’s historic public square and surrounding neighborhoods.

Tickets are $8 in advance and can be purchased at the Lebanon-Wilson County Chamber of Commerce office and at the main office of Wilson Bank and Trust. Tickets will be $10 the night of the event and will be available at the Capitol Theatre Box Office.

This year's tour will include:

The Fain Home, 109 Greenlawn Dr.  (C. 1937)
Mark and Jessica Fain bought the home at auction in 2007. The renovation started immediately and is still ongoing. New touches have been added to the home, but original features, such as hardwood flooring, a pedestal sink and cast-iron tub have been preserved. The kitchen remains cozy with its original farm sink and cabinets.  
Modern additions such as a hutch, island and new countertops complete the decor. Jessica Fain said she is especially proud of the hand-painted checkerboard floor in the den. She mastered this DIY project with the help of her aunt and cousin. The custom draperies in the living room and dining room were also created by Jessica Fain with assistance from her aunt.
The Fains' home is located in one of Lebanon’s early planned neighborhoods.  
The Greenlawn Development Co. created the area in 1930 on land stretching from West Main Street to Hill Street. The Fain property, lot 13, was bought in 1936 by Robert W. Adams and wife, Margaret, for $700. The house was built between 1936 and 1939. The developer’s original restrictions including a minimum construction cost of $3,500 and street frontage of 75 feet, created this upscale pre-World War II neighborhood preserved by current residents.

The Stumb Home, 515 West Spring St. (C. 1939)
Paul and Cristy Stumb have doubled their circa-1939 Colonial Revival home’s original square footage with a 3,000-square-foot addition completed this year. Great care was taken to preserve the original plaster walls, hardwood flooring and features such as the front hallway phone nook, the pull down ironing board and the banister medallion in the front hall staircase.
The original rear brick wall is now exposed on interior walls on both the first and second floor additions. This new living space contains a kitchen, laundry, media and bonus rooms, a master suite plus two decks and an outdoor fireplace.
All the new grandeur would surprise the home’s original owners, J.B. and Frances Oliver who bought the lot in 1937 for $1,000.  They built the home between 1937 and 1939. The Stumbs said they are happy to be a part of the historic Cumberland University neighborhood and Paul Stumb especially enjoys his short commute to work on campus.

Rutherford Parks Library/THW Insurance Services, 702 Cadet Court (C. 1912)                                                                                            
The Rutherford Parks Library, completed in 1912, was formerly the campus library of Castle Heights Military Academy.  The library was a gift from school alumnus, Rutherford B. Parks.  The gothic revival architecture is consistent with other original buildings on campus that were built in the early 20th century.  

A unique feature is the 16-foot stained glass ceiling.  Originally, the entire roof over the stained glass was a glass pyramid structure, but due to leaks throughout the years and the school’s financial struggles, it was replaced by an ordinary shingle hip roof.  During the building’s restoration in 1993, skylights were installed to give the ceiling natural lighting as originally intended.   
It is the second oldest surviving building on campus; the original Old Main having suffered a fire in 1916 and being rebuilt thereafter. The Mitchell House Mansion, built in 1904, was the first of the original CHMA structures to be restored.  Today the Rutherford Parks Library is the main office for THW Insurance Services, LLC.  

The Rickard Home, 128 Castle Heights Ave., (C. 1940)
Vickie and Steve Rickard’s traditional circa-1940 house will surprise with its eclectic, unusual interior. The Rickards have labored to create a home to reflect their style. Many outstanding features to look for are concrete countertops in the kitchen, a cast iron candle chandelier in the dining room and Vickie’s dream craft room.  
Most unique are the built-in fish tanks in the master suite.  In fact, all the bedroom furniture is built-in including the dog’s house. Several decks and an outdoor entertaining area certainly make this home very inviting. This house was part of the Morningside Heights neighborhood laid out in 1937 by M.F. Rose.  This development included lots on the east and west side of Castle Heights Avenue, north of West Spring Street and on the north and south side of West Spring, west of its intersection with Castle Heights Avenue. The original owners of the house were Fred and Ruby Cowan who operated Chandler’s clothing shop in Lebanon.

The Hager Home, 116 South Hatton,  (C. 1900)
Will and Holly Hager are the new owners of this excellent example of Victorian architecture, but its history links to the completion of Cumberland University’s new Memorial Hall in 1897. The campus’s new location spurred the development of surrounding neighborhoods along Hatton, West Spring and Tarver Avenue.
This site was purchased as a lot in April 1900 for $365 cash by L.L. Rice and his wife Blanche Buchanan Rice. Laban Lacy Rice was a professor at Cumberland University (1897-1906), owner and headmaster of Castle Heights Military Academy (1913-20) and President of Cumberland University (1941-46).  Rice Observatory, which stood at the S. Tarver entrance to CU, was his gift to the university. Although the Rice Family were long time Lebanon residents, they did not reside long in this house. In 1902, it was sold to the W.P. Bouton family and remained in their family home until 1974.
Features to look for in the home include seven fireplaces (six original), two beautiful stained glass windows and a most interesting original leather wallcovering below the hallway wainscoting.

CHMA “Old Main”/City of Lebanon Museum and History Center,     
200 N. Castle Heights Ave.  (C. 1902)
The city of Lebanon Museum and History Center is housed in “Old Main” on the former campus of Castle Heights Military Academy. Completed in 1902, the building’s foundation consists of Cookeville sandstone and walls of red pressed bricks.  Unfortunately a fire in 1916 destroyed most of the original building and it was rebuilt. After CHMA closed in 1986, the building sat empty and neglected for ten years. The City of Lebanon purchased and renovated the structure and it is now used as the City Administration Building.
The Lebanon Museum and History Center is at the lower rear entrance. The main entrance located at the rear parking area behind the building may be used. The 2,500-square-feet museum showcases Lebanon’s rich history with a timeline through the Native American era, early settlement, Antebellum, Victorian and modern eras.