Lexington County lies in the Midlands region of South Carolina. Both the county and its seat were named after the Revolutionary War’s first battle, the battle of Lexington. This name is fitting seeing as a number of Revolutionary War battles were fought in the county.
First known as the Saxe Gotha township in 1733, the area acquired its current name in 1785. However, from 1791 to 1804 the county was added to Orangeburg District before becoming its own county again. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the county became smaller as lands belonging to this county were used to create Aiken and Calhoun counties.
The British were the first Europeans to settle in the area. This group created a trading post, later known as Granby, on the Congaree River. In the 18th century, a large number of Swiss, German, and Scotch-Irish immigrants came to the area and began small farms. Many of these small farms became submerged when Lake Murray was made from the Saluda River. However, the economy’s reliance on agriculture created by these small farms continues today. Various types of manufacturing as well as steel processing have also become popular means of income in the county.
Home. Accessed June 09, 2016. http://www.lex-co.sc.gov/Pages/default.aspx
Industry Data. Accessed June 09, 2016. http://www.lexingtoncountyusa.com/workforce/workforce_data/industry_data/
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"From its first shipment of Carolina products to England in 1670, when seven cedar boards were included, lumbering in many forms has brought dependable wealth to South Carolina. In all its phases...
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The Godfrey Harmon House, built in Lexington around 1870 by the founder of the Lexington "Dispatch," burned in 1894. The square columns are an interesting adaptation of a vernacular Greek Revival...
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"Granny" Corley and her family are regarded as the founders of Lexington County. Her house, a national style "I" house built in the late 18th century with exterior chimneys, is a good example of...
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The Lexington County congregation of Pilgrim Lutheran Church, posed outside of their building around 1930. Courtesy of the Lexington County Museum.
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Hookworm was a serious medical problem for the rural poor in South Carolina. The parasite infected individuals who picked it up through barefoot contact in infested soil; open-backed privies helped...
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The Confederate Soldiers Home was a state-supported institution for elderly veterans of the Civil War. This photograph was taken in the late 1930s shortly after the grounds had been relandscaped as...
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In this episode, we visit some of the many special events held around S.C.. We travel to the Governor's Annual Jumping Frog Contest in Springfield, to Beaufort for the Water Festival, to Gilbert, in...
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Harbison Agricultural College students, Class of 1916. Harbison was a school for African-Americans founded by the Presbyterian Church in the area north of Columbia to train young men to be better...
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Mr. and Mrs. W.P. Roof, Sr., pose with their hired hand Dick Portee, around 1900. The livestock they exhibit in the farm yard behind their Lexington house were proudly included in the photograph as...
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The Columbia Army Air Base in Lexington County became the headquarters of Colonel Jimmy Doolittle's famous "Raiders," who trained there for their bombing run over Tokyo. Courtesy of the Thomas Cooper...