Historical significance
The Cornwall-Lebanon Railroad was built with $1.2 million in the 1880s by the rich socialite Robert H. Coleman. The railroad was used to carry passengers from Mt. Gretna, an extremely popular resort community of the time. Later the railroad was used to transport the Pennsylvania National Guard from their camp near Mt. Gretna. As time went on the railroad service stopped, which resulted in the rail being purchased by the Pennsylvania Railroad. This group continued use of the rail up until the powerful Hurricane Agnes devastated Lebanon County. The hurricane destroyed sections of the track in 1972.
The Cornwall-Lebanon Branch railroad was abandoned in 1979 by the Penn Central Railroad. At that time, a group of concerned local residents worked to convince the Lebanon County Commissioners to bid on the corridor for public recreational trail use. Unfortunately, the county was outbid and the rail line was transferred to private ownership. Ironically, this first attempt to acquire the trail was ahead of its time in that the rails-to-trails movement that has swept the nation really only began in earnest during the mid 1980's.
Twenty years later, interest in the rail-trail resurfaced as development pressure in the southern end of the county began to threaten available open space and recreational opportunities that residents had taken for granted for many years. Led by John Wengert Jr, the Lebanon Valley Rails-to-Trails Inc. was incorporated in 1996, and negotiations were initiated with Eastern Enterprises, the owner of the railbed south of the city of Lebanon to the Lancaster County line. Fortunately, large sections of the proposed rail-trail were still largely intact.
In December 1999, LVRT purchased the railbed from Eastern Enterprises and early in 2000 kicked off a community fundraising campaign which, together with several grants from the state funded trail surfacing and other improvements.
http://www.lvrailtrail.com/historical_facts.htm
History and evolution
2009 marked the acquisition and development of a 2.5-mile extension to the City of Lebanon. The trail passes near Zinns Mill Road toward the Lebanon Expo Center, then to South Hill Park, and ending at the 8th Street trailhead. This section of the trail features a 10-foot-wide paved surface, equestrian path, and an above-ground bridge at Wilhelm Avenue. Construction cost $575,000 and was funded by personal donations and federal and state funds. The City of Lebanon extension was built upon the former Cornwall Industrial Track and acquired from the RJ Railroad Co which was used by Conrail to serve the local Alcoa plant in South Lebanon Township.
Modern-day extensions are focused on the updating of the Cornwall trailhead, which was partially funded by a $25,000 gift from the Friends of the Rexmont Dams.[4] Studies are in progress to develop an area outside Jonestown that will one day connect to a Union Canal trail and the City of Lebanon section of the LVRT.