Local History Index

    The Towns of Lisbon

Compiled and Edited by Michael R. Reilly

Last Revised 05/06/2006

Other Lisbons in America

New Lisbon, Ostego County, New York

    Lisbon, CT. Welcome to the Town of Lisbon, CT, the home of the first railroad tunnel in America. The history of this small town apparently had its beginning with a spark kindled in England by the puritans who came over to this wilderness land to make their homes where they would be free to govern themselves and worship God as they chose.

    The settlement of what is now the Town of Lisbon commenced about the year 1698. The settlement of Newent commenced in 1718 with sixteen persons listed on the roll of accepted inhabitants. They were known as "the farmers in ye Crotch of ye rivers".

    The town was incorporated in 1786 when it was named Lisbon, doubtless from the fact that Hezekiah and Jabez Perkins and other commercial shippers traded from Norwich with the port of Lisbon, in Portugal.

    Area attractions include the Bishop House Museum, located near the center of the town along scenic route 169 and the Anshei Israel Synagogue, locate along Route 138. Both of these buildings are part of the National Historic Register and are cared for by the Lisbon Historical Society, Inc. Located in the south end of town is the First Railroad Tunnel in America. The tunnel can be reached by foot from the base of Tunnel Hill Road and Route 12. Along the way is an excellent view of the power plant and its Preston-Lisbon dam. Lisbon Meadows Park boasts miles of walking and jogging paths as well as baseball and soccer fields.

    Lisbon is located on Route 169, along the old stagecoach route linking Norwich, Connecticut and Worcester, Massachusetts. The center of Lisbon is an area called Newent, after the old Newent Ecclesiastical Society. Going north, the 32-mile scenic highway begins as Exit 83A goes off Route 395 into the center of town.

15769 - Lisbon, IA - area history, Iowa

Lisbon, Howard County, Maryland

During the nineteenth century, this community was one of the most prosperous farm villages in the western part of the county, but it never had more than several hundred residents. Today, the town, with a population of almost 1,000, is again experiencing growth by virtue of its location on the suburban fringe of the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area.

Barbara Feaga, in her book Howard's Roads to the Past, indicates that there were other Howard County firsts for the town that all those traveling west must pass through: the first Presbyterian Church, the first high school, and the first non-teaching principal.

Lisbon, ME - Lisbon, as it is known today, was settled in 1628. Some of our early records indicate Lisbon started manufacturing right away. On March 4, the year unknown, Oliver Moses, John Tebbets, Edward Plummer and Galen Moses, organized a stock company with a capital of twenty-four thousand dollars divided into 240 one hundred dollar shares each for manufacturing purposes at Little River Village. They purchased from the present proprietors mill privileges at the Upper Falls, and such other real estate they currently had an interest in for the sum of seven-thousand dollars. Then they agreed to buy the Thompson property. They built a dam and mill and began manufacturing cloth.

On June 29, 1798, the two branches of the Massachusetts Legislature approved a document appointing three commissioners to oversee the sale of undivided land to settlers. This sum of money had to be paid by the end of 1805. These settlers were given for the most part, 100-acre parcels.

Bowdoin's Town Clerk Samuel Smith recorded in April of 1798 a vote to divide Bowdoin into two equal parts and two distinct towns. Samuel Tebbets, Thomas Ham, and Joseph Killgore submitted the application for Incorporation in June of 1798. The reason being the center of said town was broken and wasteland so the inhabitants were obligated to meet on the north side or south side of the town. The document pleaded the inhabitants had to travel near ten miles to get to town meeting for which reason, many did not attend. They petitioned to incorporate the western part of Bowdoin by itself beginning at the north west corner of Topsham. On June 22, 1799 Lisbon became incorporated under the name of Thompsonborough in the County of Lincoln under the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

On March 17, 1800 the first town meeting was called to order in the house of Samuel Tebbets to elect officers. In April of 1800 Lisbon voted to have the assessors go through the town to take the valuation, to collect twenty cents on a pound, and to have the Selectmen be the committee to settle accounts between Lisbon and Bowdoin. At the adjournment of the annual town meeting in May of 1800 the first eight member school committee was chosen.

On December 21, 1801 Thompsonborough voters agreed to alter the name of the town, and voted to petition the General Court to change its name to Lisbon. Noah Jordan submitted the petition to the General Court and cited "the inconveniency in the length of the name" as the reason for changing it, and on February 20, 1802 the Town of Thompsonborough was officially changed to the Town of Lisbon.

Today, Lisbon is the third largest of fourteen communities in Androscoggin County, and is centrally located within a 20-mile radius of more than 100,000 people. According to the 1990 census records, Lisbon's population is 9,457. State Route 196 passes through the entire length of Lisbon connecting to the Lewiston/Auburn area and Interstate 495 and to the Topsham/Brunswick area and Interstate 95.

Twila Lycette, Lisbon Town Clerk

Lisbon Falls, Maine is in Androscoggin County

Lisbon, Lisbon Center, and Lisbon Falls, Androscoggin County, Maine

The town was established in 1799 and was originally named "Thompsonborough" in honor of the Thompson family, large landowners in the area. This family, as well as some of their neighbors, were of Irish descent. Because the local residents disagreed with General Samuel Thompson's unpatriotic views, they changed the name of the town to Lisbon in 1802. Although it is not known why this name was chosen, it was a common practice in Maine to name local communities for European countries and cities. Other European place names found in southern Maine include Poland, Paris, Norway, Denmark, Dresden, Palermo, Belgrade, and Vienna.

15772 - Lisbon, ND - area history, North Dakota
15773 - Lisbon, NH - area history, New Hampshire. Governor Benning Wentworth granted a charter in 1763 under the name of Concord, opening the township which became Lisbon.  No settlement was made under that charter, and in 1768 another was made under the name of Gunthwaite.  At town meeting in 1824 is was voted to name the town Lisbon after Lisbon, Portugal.
 
        Samuel Martin was the first white man known to travel through the unbroken wilderness which became Lisbon.  The year was 1749.  He came with his young son on a hunting trip and remembered the area.  When settlement was made in Gunthwaite in 1768, Martin came with his family and built a log cabin near Henry Pond, one-half mile from the present village center.  Samuel Young came in 1775 from Massachusetts and built a log cabin near the same area. There was still one wigwam along the river, and earlier settlers told of seeing more than half a dozen wigwams.  Soon the settlers built a fort with a blockhouse inside. Seven Gunthwaite men were enlisted in Timothy Bedell's 1st Company of Rangers and five of them were Youngs. Major Benjamin Whitcomb, the famous, dreaded scout of the French and Indian and Revolutionary War settled in Lisbon as did many others who fought for independence. After the Revolutionary War the fort was taken down, and Samuel Young lived in the blockhouse and used it as a hotel.  Later, a tavern was built around the blockhouse and over the years it was enlarged and still stands on the outskirts of the village. The first town meetings were held at the tavern.  Musters were held on the cleared meadows here where there was a gunhouse and granary. Within a few years, a church and school were built near Henry Pond.

        A settlement was well established at this site when Samuel's brother, Jesse, utilized the waterpower of the Ammonoosuc River's narrow and steep waterfall one mile downstream.  He built a sawmill, gristmill and shingle mill and soon gave free waterpower to the Clothing Works which carded wool into rolls for home spinning.  Soon mechanics and tradesmen established businesses, and this became the bustling center of Lisbon.  In less than 50 years there were numerous shops, mills, factories and stately homes.  Three of the five peg mills in the United States were located in Lisbon.  Parker Young Company was at one time the largest manufacturer of piano sounding boards in the world.  There were two railroad stations, a library, a gold rush, a small airport and the first rope ski tow in New Hampshire.
 
        Lisbon suffered from devastating fires, floods, the Hurricane of 1938 and fluctuating economies but rallied and boasts a magnificent town hall, library, brick blocks and other historically significant structures as well as the gift of a naturally beautiful setting nestled in the valley along the Ammonoosuc River.  Descendants of some of the first settlers in the 1700's still live in Lisbon and share its proud heritage with newcomers, and all seem to work together to preserve the rich history and utilize its natural resources.

Lisbon Township, NY - area history, New York   Town of Lisbon, Saint Lawrence County, New York 

    In the 1600's, the French built Fort de la Gallete near Ogdensburg. In 1763, England gained control of Canada and the St. Lawrence Valley, but after the American Revolution, the land south of the river belonged to the Americans.

    After the war, New York State anticipated a western surge of settlers and concluded a treaty with the Iroquois Indians. The land was divided into ten townships, each containing about 64,000 acres. The original towns were Louisville, Stockholm, Potsdam, Madrid, Lisbon, Canton, DeKalb, Hague, Cambray, and Oswegatchie. By 1788, Alexander Macomb was the nominal owner of all ten towns. He sold the land to speculators and potential settlers. The area started to be settled around 1800.

    The first town organized was Lisbon, set up in 1801, with a present population of 2,673. AS previously stated, it originally contained all the 'ten townships of the first survey. It lies on the St. Lawrence; is fairly level farming and fruit land. Lisbon Center is its main town.

Lisbon, OH - area history, Ohio. 

    Founded in 1803, Lisbon is an eastern Ohio rural community of 2,800 (2000 Census) and the seat of Columbiana County.  The total county population is approximately 112,075 (2000 census).

    The village has long served as the commerce center for the surrounding area.  The local economy was dominated by agriculture, coal, mills, tanneries and pottery, but through recent years the mills and pottery industry have been phased out, and present manufacturing activity focuses on metal fabricating and hoists manufacturing.  Coal and agriculture  continue to contribute substantially to the basic economy.

    One of the oldest communities in the state, Lisbon offers many historical points of interest.  Among these are the Old Stone Tavern, now restored as a museum; and early iron furnace; the restored Erie Station museum; and many restored commercial buildings and homes.  There is also a scenic bike/walking pathway that follows the old railroad line.  A monument five miles south of town marks the northern-most Civil War penetration of the Confederate raider, General Morgan.

Reference material

New Lisbon, Portage, Wisconsin - The most likely source for the name of New Lisbon holds that the County Clerk Larmon Saxton named it either in honor of his home town of Lisbon, Ohio or after the town of Lisbon near Milwaukee where his sister resided.

"The History of Waukesha County, 1880", therefore the language and point-of-reference is from the year 1880. Additional notes have been added by website editor  to further explain the text.

Many Lisbons in the United States

    Because the naming process, especially for smaller towns and villages, has not always been well documented, it is not possible to determine the motivation for selecting the name "Lisbon" for each of these places. Immigrants from Portugal may have settled in some of these communities, but in most cases, the residents had very little relation to Portugal. The town fathers often selected the name of a European city (as was a common practice during much of the nineteenth century) in anticipation that their newly founded settlement would emulate the larger namesake. However, none of the American Lisbons rivaled its European counterpart in size or importance.

Communities in the US Named Lisbon

    Today, the Lisbons with the largest populations include townships in Androscoggin County, Maine (9,457), and Waukesha County, Wisconsin (8,277). Some are the seats of local government, including the county seats of Columbiana County, Ohio (3,037), and Ransom County, North Dakota (2,177). On the other hand, many of these localities, such as the one in Howard County, Maryland (1,000), are unincorporated and are no more than a crossroads village or hamlet, with only a few houses and stores. Current U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps have been selected to illustrate two communities that bear the name "Lisbon."

Naming of Lisbon, Illinois
    Lisbon is located in section 25, Big Grove Township and section 30, Lisbon Township. In 1836, Horace Moore, Sr. built the first frame house on the prairie which, was to become the site of Lisbon. The town was laid out the same year by Lancelot Rood. A plat of the village was filed in Kendall County, May 17, 1859.
    On September 17, 1836, the post office was moved from Holderman's Grove to the new village of Lisbon. Tradition has it that Levi Hills, John Moore, Sr. and another pioneer whose name has been lost in history, chose the name because it was easy to write, pronounce and remember. In 1896, J. R. (Joseph R.) Adams, editor of the Kendall County News took a buggy tour through a portion of Kendall County, visiting Fox, Helmar, Lisbon, Newark, and
Millington. An article describing the trip and what he saw was published in the May 28, 1896 issue of the Kendall County News. Editor Adams repeated the historical tradition that John (H.) Moore had given Lisbon its name. He also mistakenly stated that it was Daniel Platt who had built the first log house in the village of Lisbon.
    The following edited comments by Joseph Williams, editor of the Lisbon Comet, appeared in the June 4, 1896 issue of the Comet. "Brother Adams says in his Lisbon history that Daniel Platt built the first house there. That is a mistake, though we think it is true of Plattville. John Moore brought the first load of timber to where our town is, and his father (Horace Moore, Sr.) built the first house, a few logs of which still survive. John Moore did not name Lisbon. A number of pioneers met to give their first post office a name. Among many names suggested was Lisbon, which was voted upon and adopted. Mr. Moore could not remember, so many years after, who had suggested the name. We frequently asked him in regard to it with the above result, and his family also disclaimed the distinction."
    In the July 2, 1896 issue of the Lisbon Comet, Austin Hills writing from Cabery, Ford County, Illinois supplied the following interesting comments. "The Comet's uncertainty as to who named Lisbon is accidentally solved. In looking over the record of the Hills family I find this bit of interesting history in a family record going back to 1632. Uncle Levi Hills moved from Vernon Center, NY to Illinois in 1833. He settled first at Holderman's Grove and five years later moved to Lisbon, which town he named. At that time Levi Hills kept the stage house or station or tavern, in the old log house on the west edge of the village which has subsequently gone to decay and ruin. At that time the stage station stood near where the store now stands. The rush of business forced him to build the stone house, the Sherrill house, now the Burry summer residence. The large black letters painted on the front, "Lisbon House," I am not sure but I think they were put on later by the then owner, Jefferson, from whom Squire Sherrill secured the property." Editor Williams commented, "We think Austin's idea, as taken from the Hills record, as to which named Lisbon is correct. We think Uncle John Moore was
always inclined to ascribe it to Levi Hills."
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilkendal/TownHistories/Lisbon/NamingLisbon.htm

History of Lisbon
Early Lisbon
By Hampden, Lisbon correspondent to the Kendall County Record.
Published in two parts, June 23 and June 30, 1870.
Edited and compiled by Elmer Dickson
    In 1836, Horace Moore and his two sons were dividing their labors between putting up the first house in Lisbon, and breaking up their lands. During the same year, Mr. Levi Hills built a log tavern a little westward, which, in years afterward gave place to the stately and permanent stone house of the Hon. Henry Sherrill. This new settlement now called for a road. The
great thoroughfares from Chicago, westward, lay to the north two miles. In due form, a highway was laid out, extending from Joliet, passing the log tavern and intersecting the Chicago Road at Holderman's Grove. Settlers looking for homes visited the new enterprise. Both the inn and the farmhouse were not infrequently taxed to the last spare bed. What guests they entertained, what table accommodations and dormitory arrangements resorted
to, are not forgotten now. This generous full hearted hospitality spread the fame of the new village. The log tavern was a familiar name on the Atlantic seaboard. It became a prominent point in western travel. Lines of coaches had to multiply to meet the increasing demand. The great highway of tourists and businessmen lay through Lisbon. Fifteen daily stages drove up to the door of the prairie tavern. Six ponderous coaches paused at the dinner hour
and crowds of hungry passengers sat down to its table. Men of distinction often sought rest and refreshment under its genial roof. The Hon. Martin VanBuren, senators from Washington, United States officials, officers holding important military trusts and commanding positions answered its bell and enjoyed its savory viands.
    Public business had so increased that a post office was demanded and initial steps in acquiring one were taken. Then came the important question, what would be its name? The "Prairie Tavern" had answered all immediate demands during the formative state of the rising village. Now however, it was to be linked to the outside world and be enrolled in alphabetical order. It would soon find its way into the archives of the national government. These "high
considerations" led Mr. Levi Hills prompted by his practical good sense, to select the terse, vigorous, brusque name, Lisbon. The application to the Post Office Department at Washington, DC was headed, "Lisbon, LaSalle Co., ILL." Letters missive duly authenticated by large waxen seals, and marked "Official Business." Established the new post office, and installed "mine host," (Levi Hills) postmaster. The prairie tavern was a new link in the
great mail system of the United States.
    The tide of population set in towards this new and growing center of thrift and enterprise. Lands were taken up, foundations laid, and homes arose in neighboring proximity. Ready hands never failed to aid the stranger who came to settle in, and around Lisbon.
    Enterprise progressed and the ambitious village grew, when the importance and necessity of education absorbed the public mind. The only thing lacking was a school building. There were no funds for such a purpose and no law yet enacted by which to create them. Public meetings were called. Measures adopted, and the emergency met in the accustomed business spirit of the people.
    During the deliberations out of which the new schoolhouse grew, Miss Elizabeth Bushnell (now Mrs. A. J. Ford) gathered the children together in a granary. There she began teaching and has the high honor of being the pioneer educator of Lisbon.
    In the meantime, active measures were in operation, materials collecting, the site selected, and workmen engaged. In the spring of 1838, the frame of the first schoolhouse was erected. By autumn, the pride of the village, the
new schoolhouse was finished and standing on the public square. It must have been an imposing building in those days. Its dimensions were 20 by 30 feet with a commanding height. There were three large windows on each side of the building.
    The interior was plain but substantial. The teacher's desk was constructed so that when the teacher was sitting on the board or shelf like arrangement, nothing of the teacher's personage was visible to the anxious scholars but the top of the head. If the teacher was moderate in size, the view was even less distinct. If the teacher was short, his diminutive proportions sunk out of sight as he sat behind the desk and occupied the little shelf provided for his comfort.
    Around the building, fastened to the wall, ran a shellfire seat and a long tier of desks, which, in turn gave opportunity for another stretch of seats for little scholars. Back-less benches constructed with an auger and axe of
simplest workmanship occupied the center of the room. These benches were especially contrived to teach self-denial and "mortify the flesh" and all that "pertained thereto." The unanimous testimony of the alumni confirms the
complete success of their "alma mater" in this weary effort. Ruttan's system of ventilation was not only unknown in those days, but unneeded in our new schoolhouse. Drafts of pure, sweet air, filtered by a sweep of 3000 miles, direct from the Arctic world, gave bloom to the face and spirit and health to youth. The architecture was of the order that
admitted it freely. The warming apparatus was divided into two departments. We will do what the teacher did not, pass lightly over the first, and only notice the second.
    The stove had passed its youth and vigor, and declining under the infirmities of age, had retired from active life, when benevolence gave it, both to adorn and warm the new school house. By an unfortunate accident, years before, it had sustained a severe fracture, which marred its beauty and impaired its graceful symmetry. In its new position, a hitherto unknown vice was discovered. It became a great eyesore to the teacher, for in conjunction with decrepitude and infirm age, it had contracted the habit of an inveterate smoker. It lacked firmness also, and was found to waver in the discharge of duty. To brace up against this weakness, a few kind and sympathizing bricks lent very material aid to the cripple, and in lieu of the lost member, added strength and support.

Last Updated Sunday, 02-Jul-2000 12:59:09 MDTby Elmer Dickson

http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilkendal/TownHistories/Lisbon/LisbonHistory.htm

    For a history of the Milwaukee & Rock River Canal, consult the last
chapter of Strong's History of Wisconsin Territory; Lapham's Milwaukee &
Rock River Canal; and the volume of pamphlets on that subject in the
library of the State Historical Society