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History
in a Pecan Shell
James Shaw is credited as being one of the first settlers in the area,
arriving in 1837. Shaw, as a Texas Revolutionary War veteran was claiming
a military land grant. A post office opened under the name String
Prairie (not to be confused with the community in Caldwell
County) in 1848 with Shaw serving as postmaster.
Shaw, a surveyor by trade, also served as the local schoolteacher
and state legislator. In 1850 the name of the community was changed
to Lexington, after the Massachusetts town prominent in the American
Revolution.
The population was depleted during the Civil War but was replenished
after the war, when twenty-one Mississippi families arrived by wagon,
most of them settling in Lexington or nearby communities.
Lexington’s population was estimated at 250 by 1884, doubling to over
500 shortly after the arrival of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass
Railroad in 1890. Lexington reached 1,000 residents in the late 1920s
but it dropped to just over 500 during the Great Depression.
In the 1950s it had increased to 600. The town reported 901 for the
1980 census and reached new heights in 1989 when 1,284 people were
enumerated. The 1990 population figure of 953 grew to 1,178 by 2000. |
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| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and vintage/historic photos, please contact
us. |
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