Lexington, Tennessee
Lexington is a city in Henderson County, Tennessee, United States. Lexington is midway between Memphis and Nashville, lying 10 miles (16 km) south of Interstate 40, which connects the two cities. The population was 7,956 at the 2020 census.[5] It is the county seat of Henderson County.[6]
History[edit]
Shortly after the 1821 creation of Henderson County, a site near its center was chosen as a county seat, and was named in honor of Lexington, Massachusetts, site of the first battle of the American Revolution.[7] Land Grant holder Samuel Wilson gave the land for the town, retaining a lot on the square where his house was already situated. The square is oriented so the corners point to the cardinal points on the compass. 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 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 Beech Creek to disallow the Confederate army moving 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.[8]
In 1918, an African-American man called Berry Noyse who was accused of killing the sheriff was lynched by a mob in the courthouse square and burned in the street.[9]
Education[edit]
Public schools in Lexington are operated by the Henderson County School System and the 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, while Paul G. Caywood Elementary School, often shortened to "Caywood," and Lexington Middle School, or LMS, are both in the Lexington City School System.
Lexington is home to the Lexington-Henderson County Center of Jackson State Community College, which opened in 1999.[16] The center offers all courses required to earn an associate degree in General Studies, and offers other courses that may be credited towards additional degrees from the main campus in Jackson, Tennessee, or may be transferred to other universities.[16] It has become a popular choice of graduates from Lexington High School, Scotts Hill High School, and other area high schools as a means of continuing their education. The center has become more popular since the introduction of the Tennessee Promise, a state program that provides two years of tuition-free attendance at community colleges and technical colleges in Tennessee.[17]
Arts and culture[edit]
The Lexington-Henderson County Everett Horn Public Library serves the city.[19]
Lexington is 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."[20]
Lexington claims to be the barbecue capital of the country; it supposedly has more barbecue restaurants per capita than any other city in the United States.[21]
Sports[edit]
From 1935 to 1938, Lexington was home to a Minor League Baseball team that played in the Kentucky–Illinois–Tennessee League. Known as the Lexington Giants from 1935 to 1938, the team was renamed the Lexington Bees when it became a farm club of the National League's Boston Bees in 1938.[23]