At the turn of the twentieth century, Wilson County produced large quantities of wool.  The lack of nearby markets and a growing need for employment prompted a local group of businessmen to take action. In December 1908 the Lebanon Woolen Mills Corporation formed.  Howard K. Edgerton was the president of the Board of Directors.  A year from incorporation, the first blankets were produced by the mill’s forty employees.  

The Lebanon Woolen Mills celebrated its golden anniversary of operations in 1958.  Long known as a maker of quality blankets, the World War II years had seen production shift to the manufacturing of blankets for the Army and Marine Corps, earning one of the first “E” awards granted.  The mill had been the sole producer, in the entire country, of an all wool blanket until new synthetic materials became available after the war.  The mill closed in 1998 after one hundred years of production in Lebanon.  The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 and is an excellent example of adaptive re-use of a historic property.