The earliest settlers of Lexington Township were members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, many of whom came from Virginia and New Jersey between 1805 and 1807. They chose this site because it lay near the Mahoning River, which in the early days promised to become a commercial waterway. Amos Holloway platted the Village of Lexington in 1807. Pioneer Jesse Felts, who died in 1818, is reported to have been one of the first people buried here, and the cemetery is still used occasionally for burials.