Lexington, Massachusetts

Lexington, Massachusetts
Town
Statue of Captain John Parker and Hayes Memorial Fountain on Lexington Common, by H. H. Kitson
Flag Seal
Etymology: Likely from Laxton, Nottinghamshire
Nickname(s): Birthplace of American Liberty
Motto: "What a Glorious Morning for America!"
Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts
Coordinates: 42°26′50″N 71°13′30″W / 42.44722°N 71.22500°W / 42.44722; -71.22500Coordinates: 42°26′50″N 71°13′30″W / 42.44722°N 71.22500°W / 42.44722; -71.22500
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Middlesex
Settled	1642
Incorporated	1713
Government
• Type	Representative town meeting
Area
• Total	16.5 sq mi (42.8 km2)
• Land	16.4 sq mi (42.5 km2)
• Water	0.1 sq mi (0.4 km2)
Elevation	210 ft (64 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	31,394
• Density	1,900/sq mi (730/km2)
Demonym(s)	Lexingtonian
Time zone	Eastern (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	Eastern (UTC-4)
ZIP code	02420 / 02421
Area code(s)	339 / 781
FIPS code	25-35215
GNIS feature ID	0619401
Website	www.lexingtonma.gov

Lexington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 31,394 at the 2010 census, in nearly 11,100 households. Settled in 1641, it is celebrated as the site of the first shots of the American Revolutionary War, in the Battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775. It is part of the Greater Boston Area and is the sixth wealthiest small city in the United States.

Lexington was first settled circa 1642 as part of Cambridge, Massachusetts. What is now Lexington was then incorporated as a parish, called Cambridge Farms, in 1691. This allowed them to have a separate church and minister, but were still under jurisdiction of the Town of Cambridge. Lexington was incorporated as a separate town in 1713. It was then that it got the name Lexington. How it received its name is the subject of some controversy. Some people believe that it was named in honor of Lord Lexington, an English peer. Some, on the other hand, believe that it was named after Lexington (which was pronounced and is today spelled Laxton) in Nottinghamshire, England.

In the early colonial days, Vine Brook, which runs through Lexington, Burlington, and Bedford, and then empties into the Shawsheen River, was a focal point of the farming and industry of the town. It provided for many types of mills, and in the 20th Century, for farm irrigation.

For decades, Lexington grew modestly while remaining largely a farming community, providing Boston with much of its produce. It always had a bustling downtown area, which remains to this day. Lexington began to prosper, helped by its proximity to Boston, and having a rail line (originally the Lexington and West Cambridge Railroad, later the Boston and Maine Railroad) service its citizens and businesses, beginning in 1846. (As of 2015^[update], the Minuteman Bikeway occupies the site of the former rail line.) For many years, East Lexington was considered a separate village from the rest of the town, though it still had the same officers and Town Hall. Most of the farms of Lexington became housing developments by the end of the 1960s.