The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Lexington (Missouri)

LEXINGTON, a town and the capital of Lafayette co., Missouri, on the right bank of the Missouri river, 110 m. N. W. of Jefferson City; pop. in 1870, 4,373, of whom 1,178 were colored. It occupies a healthy site 300 ft. above the river. It is the terminus of a branch of the Missouri Pacific railroad, and North Lexington, on the opposite bank of the river, is a station on the St. Louis, Kansas City, and Northern railroad, and the terminus of the St. Joseph branch of that line. The surrounding country is fertile, and contains deposits of coal. Lexington has an important trade, and contains saw mills, flouring mills, rope factories, four banks, three public schools, three female seminaries, four weekly (one German) newspapers, and eleven churches. It was settled in 1837. In September, 1861, there was severe fighting between the federals stationed here, nearly 3,000, under Col. Mulligan, and a confederate force four times as large under Gen. Price, resulting in the surrender of the town and garrison on the 21st.