Settled in 1837 in an area then part of Burleson County, Lexington was named for the Massachusetts town where the American Revolution began. The first inhabitants of the area were Tonkawa Indians. The first white settler was James Shaw (1808-1879), a young surveyor and teacher from Ohio who received a land grant for service in the 1836 Battle of San Jacinto. He settled here in 1837 and established the first post office at the nearby String Prairie community in 1849. Although the early cotton industry declined, the town revived in 1890 when the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad reached it.