Lexington

Formed January 1, 1785 (13^th county)

Lexington County (262,391), Lexington (17,870)

The Modern courthouse was constructed in 2003 on Main Street at Lake Drive.  The 1941 Neo-Classical red brick courthouse is next to the Justice Center.  United States Highway 1 is Main Street in the town.  John Carroll Johnson and Jesse Walter Wessinger combined on the red brick courthouse designs.  There is a County Administration Building supporting the courthouse.  There was an 1882 courthouse earlier in Lexington, the only county seat.  Lexington County was organized on January 1, 1785 from Orangeburg County as the 13^th county.  The county and county seat are named for Lexington, Massachusetts. 

Lexington County government consists of a sheriff and 9 Council Members.  Two Circuit Court Judges and Two Family Court Judges serve Lexington, Edgefield, McCormick, Saluda counties.  Lexington County is in central South Carolina.  Columbia, South Carolina is directly east and Greenville, South Carolina is northwest of the county.  The county center is 2.3 miles South of Lexington.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Richland, Calhoun, Orangeburg, Aiken, Saluda, and Newberry counties. 

The area of the county is 758 square miles.  It is 15 out of 46 in the state.  It ranks 6 out of 46 in population in the state.  It has a density of 346.16 persons per square mile making it 4 out of 46 in the state.  Lexington County has 25.7% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 20 passes through the county from Richland County, northeast, and goes into Aiken County, southwest.  United States Highway 1 parallels Interstate Highway 20 from Richland to Aiken counties.  United States Highway 76 comes from Newberry County, northwest, and goes to Richland County, east.  United States Highway 178 enters from the southeast, Orangeburg County, and exits to the northwest, Saluda County.  United States Highway 321 goes north to south from Richland County to Orangeburg County.  United States Highway 378 crosses east to west from Richland County to Saluda County.  The county looks like a bag of marbles with an added foot on the southeast corner.  The City of Lexington is located in the northeast quarter of the county.  Lexington is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 6.8% of the county population.  This county is in the Columbia Metropolitan Statistical Area.