Lexington, Tennessee

History

Shortly after the 1821 creation of Henderson County, a site near its center was chosen as a county seat, and was named Lexington in honor of Lexington, Massachusetts, site of the first battle of the American Revolution. The first county courthouse was built in 1823; Lexington was incorporated in 1824 and by 1830 had a population of 260.

As the lead-up to the American Civil War began, Henderson County voted against secession. As the war progressed, both Union and Confederate regiments were recruited in the county. The area in and around Lexington was the site of a skirmish on December 18, 1862. Union Colonel Robert Ingersoll sent his troops to destroy a bridge over the Beech Creek to disallow Confederate army to move into the area. However, Ingersoll's troops did not destroy the bridge and General Nathan Bedford Forrest's troops headed into Lexington. Forrest's troops overtook the Union soldiers, taking over 140 men, including Colonel Ingersoll, and collected artillery and supplies left behind by Union soldiers who escaped.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 11.7 square miles (30 km²), of which 11.5 square miles (30 km²) is land and 0.2-square-mile (0.52 km²) (1.45%) is water. Lexington is six miles (10 km) south of Natchez Trace State Park.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, the population density was 640.4 people per square mile (247.4/km²). There were 3,371 housing units at an average density of 292.0 per square mile (112.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 84.50% White, 13.07% African American, 0.14% Native American, 0.26% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.42% from other races, and 1.60% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.18% of the population.

There were 3,039 households out of which 31.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% were married couples living together, 14.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.0% were non-families. 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.88.

In the city, the population was spread out with 24.0% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 28.3% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 17.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 85.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $29,725, and the median income for a family was $41,429. Males had a median income of $31,558 versus $23,212 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,368. About 10.2% of families and 13.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.9% of those under age 18 and 12.8% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Lexington has one city school system, Lexington City School System. There are three schools: Paul G. Caywood Elementary School, Lexington Middle School and Lexington High School. Lexington High School is in the Henderson County School System. Paul G. Caywood Elementary School, commonly referred to as "Caywood", and Lexington Middle School, commonly referred to as "LMS", are both in the Lexington City School System(LCSS).

Newspapers

Tennessee Magnet Publications

Arts and culture

Lexington has one library, the Lexington-Henderson County Everett Horn Public Library. Lexington is also home to the very popular Beech Lake. Lexington has one museum, Beech River Heritage Museum, that holds a variety of historical artifacts of Lexington and Henderson County.

Lexington was the setting of a 1994 episode of The X-Files called E.B.E.

Lexington claims to be the barbeque capital of the country; it supposedly has more barbeque restaurants per capita than any other city in the United States.

Infrastructure

Henderson County Community Hospital is located in and serves the Lexington area.

Notable people