2. Home National Bank 1912 & 2013 Same Location Today 2013
One of five commercial buildings to survive the 1916 fire, the Home National Bank Building was the second known local banking establishment. Constructed in 1912 as the Home National Bank, this two-story brick building is laid in Flemish bond with glazed headers. The main entrance, located at the corner of the building, has a concrete classical surround with a pediment supported by engaged Doric columns; the pediment features a bas-relief eagle. A brick water table, belt course, and decorative frieze circumscribe the building. An original projecting, dentiled, concrete cornice has been removed, and a portion of the first story of the Main Street elevation was modernized in the 1950s. The Home Bank, the predecessor of the Home National Bank, was organized around the turn of the century and occupied the west bottom floor of Julian Kaufman’s two-story brick building. The bank portion of the building was destroyed by a fire in The bank then built the present building and the name was changed to the Home National Bank. The building also served as the town’s post office from 1912 until the 1960s and its second floor has served as professional offices for doctors, attorneys, and public officials. Listed in the National Register November 22, 1983.

3. Same Location Today 2013 Fourth Courthouse 1881
The SC government in 1868 wrote a new state constitution that changed districts into counties.  Lexington County then constructed a barn-like log courthouse, which was used until the construction of a two story brick courthouse (pictured) in 1884 on the northwest corner of North Lake and East Main.  In 1940, the building currently referred to as the “old courthouse” was constructed and became the main courthouse for Lexington County.  Although there was talk of turning it into a museum, the 1884 courthouse was torn down in the 1950s.  The 1940 courthouse was designed by Columbia architect J. Carroll Johnson and also served as the location of many county offices as well.  In 2004, the current judicial center was constructed and it continues to serve the growing population of the county.

4. Same Location 2013 Fourth Courthouse 1950
By the 1930’s it became clear that a new courthouse was needed and construction began in This photograph of the fourth County Courthouse was taken shortly before it was demolished in the 1950’s. Notice the windows removed in preparation for the demolition.
The new courthouse was located directly across the street and was dedicated in 1945.

5. County Jail , Lexington, SC ca. 1906 & 2013
Same Location Today, Lexington, SC ca. 2013
County Jail, Lexington, SC ca. 1906
Land was bought from the widow of Laurance Corley, Anna Barbara Derrick Corley, to establish a courthouse and jail in 1820.  This land was well-situated on the road from Augusta to Columbia and was located on high land.  A wooden courthouse and jail were built that same year and stood in use until 1838.  No description of these buildings survives. This picture taken before the fire of 1916 shows the western side of the square granite jail. A gallows and whipping post were in the yard of the jail where convicts received from 10 to 40 lashes for horse stealing or house breaking, until the law was deemed cruel and was discontinued. This building was razed and replaced with what is now known as the old court house in 1940.

6. Same Location Today 2013 Lexington Manufacturing Company 1900
On the hillsides to the east and west of the millpond workers' houses were built and families moved into the village from farms around Lexington.  Some sold their farms; others leased their land to other farmers.  Rent on the factory- owned houses was modest, but some of the workers lived in houses they bought a short distance away.  These workers were, however, local people whereas in other parts of the state newly constructed mills drew operatives from distant places.  Partly for this reason Lexington’s mill village did not develop an identity of its own. Where there were several small stores near the mill, most of the workers shopped in the main business district around the court house.  Children of the mill workers attended the same public schools as the other children of the town.  Lexington Baptists organized earlier outside town, moved to its present site to serve the village, and became the primary church of mill workers, though some attended Lexington Methodist and St. Stephens Lutheran Churches.

7. Lexington Manufacturing 2013 Lexington Manufacturing 1960
In 1891 W. Pickens Roof of Lexington with a number of other citizens of the town formed the Lexington Manufacturing Company.  Mr. Roof, being the principal share holder was elected its president.  That same year the two story granite section of the mill was constructed from materials quarried from the site of the present School District One Headquarters on U.S. Highway 1.  204 looms and 7,000 spindles turned raw cotton into bed ticking or mattress covers.  The mill was run by water power from the pond on 12-mile Creek where the waters drop some 12 feet, thereby turning the powerful turbines necessary for running the machinery.  The spinning and weaving went on day and night.  The clatter of the machinery was heard from the street when anyone went by, and the steam whistle, now at the Lexington County Museum, loudly announced changes in the shifts.

8. Same Location Today, Lexington, SC ca. 2013
WP Roof Yard & Dick Portee, Lexington, SC ca & 2013
Same Location Today, Lexington, SC ca. 2013
WP Roof Yard & Dick Portee, Lexington, SC ca. 1910
The W. Pickens Roof house (c1882) was the home of the president of the Lexington Manufacturing Co. He is shown here in his rear yard with employee Dick Portee.
Established in 1894, the cotton mill made 6 ounce bed ticking using 7,100 spindles and 204 looms. It consumed 3,120 bales of cotton annually. Salaries ranged from $1.00 to $2.00 a day for adults and $0.50 to $1.00 a day for children.

9. Stewarts Corner at Hite’s 1960 Stewarts Corner at Hite’s 1960 & 2013
Same Location Today 2013
Stewarts Corner at Hite’s 1960
Stewarts Corner at Hite’s 1960 & 2013
The James Stewart House, which is believed to have been constructed ca. 1850, is a rectangular, one-and-one-half story, frame cottage with a gable roof and two interior chimneys.  It was the home of the town’s only known nineteenth century furniture makers, Samuel James Stuart (Stewart). Stuart was a native of Anderson County, NC who moved to Lexington County with his mother and married Rebecca Corley.  This land was in a curve of the stagecoach road from Columbia to Augusta and has for many years been known as Stuart’s or Stewart’s Corner. However, to avoid demolition, the house was sold and moved ca from its original location on West Main Street in Lexington to its current site in the vicinity of Red Bank.

10. Draft - Meetze Hotel circa 1906
Same Location Today 2013
Draft - Meetze Hotel circa 1906
Draft - Meetze Hotel 1906 & 2013
The Meetze Hotel was built in 1830 and was located at 106 East Main Street which is now a vacant lot and was the former location of Sessions department store. The hotel continued to operate until the fire of 1916 destroyed it as well as every other frame building in downtown. A covered well with pump, which at the time was a source of water for the town, was located almost directly in front of the hotel.

11. William Berly House Today 2013
WQM Berly Family at William Berly’s House c1900
WQM Berly Family at William Berly’s House 1900 & 2013
The William Berly House is important for its association with the early history of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of South Carolina - a dominant force in the history of Lexington County. Located upon part of the 102 acres purchased in 1833 by the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of South Carolina and Adjacent States for the establishment of a seminary and classical academy, it was later used as a residence by the Reverend William Berly, a leading religious and educational figure in area Lutheranism during the mid-nineteenth century. The seminary and classical academy closed in 1856 when it moved to Newberry, becoming Newberry College. In 1860 the property was purchased by Reverend William Berly. It is not clear as to when the building was erected. However, it was probably in existence at the time of the Synod’s land acquisition and was believed to have been used as one of the campus buildings in the seminary’s early years. The house is a two-story clapboard structure characterized by a one-story porch supported by four square columns. The house originally featured a central open breezeway known as a “dogtrot.” The one-story wing on the left side was also connected to the main portion of the house by a dogtrot. These breezeways were enclosed around Included in the nominated acreage is an outbuilding which was originally the ice house. Listed in the National Register November 23, 1977.

12. Lexington School 1912 & 2013 Same Location Today 2013
Lexington’s High School was opened in 1912 and was located where Lexington Elementary is today on North Lake Drive. 
The first graduating class featured twelve students, eleven females and one male. The school added eleventh grade in 1922 and twelfth grade in 1948.  The original building was torn down in 1988.

13. Main Street Lexington ca. 1912 & 2013 Main Street Lexington Today 2013
Although it has undergone tremendous changes through the years, the town of Lexington’s Main Street has always played a vital part in the economy of the town and the county.  It started off in the late 18th and early 19th centuries as the main road that connected Augusta, Georgia to Columbia. 
When the town of Lexington (then called Lexington Courthouse) was established in 1820, the road that would become Main Street became the heart of the new community. 
This continued to be the case throughout the 19th and 20th centuries as the town grew up around Main Street.  Like all roads in SC, Lexington’s Main Street was not paved until the first half of the 20th century, around the time when it became part of US Hwy. 1.  Around the turn of the century, a well was located at the corner of Church Street and Main Street and stables and liveries were located at the corner of what is now South Lake and Main.  Many of the structures on Main Street were constructed of wood before the 1916 fire that devastated the town.  Although many buildings on Main Street were destroyed in this fire, some historic structures remain in what is now the Main Street commercial district.

14. Main Street East View, Lexington, SC ca. 2013
Main Street looking east, this view of the 100 block of East Main shows, at left, the court house with a balcony above its entrance and, in the distance, the Home National Bank building. Although younger than other buildings on Main Street, the other buildings between Church and South Lake are no less significant.  Beyond Harmon Alley, at right is the county jail that faces the court house. Many were built in the late 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s after the 1916 fire.  Lexington County’s “Old” Courthouse, which now is home to the county magistrate court, was constructed in 1940 in an effort to replace the older structure located across the street.

15. Main Street North View, Lexington, SC ca. 1910
This photo reveals how the south side of the 100 block of East Main Street appeared before it was destroyed by fire in At left is the residence of Godfrey Harman and his building, which housed the Harman Bazaar (front) and the offices of the Dispatch News (back). One of the businesses that for many years occupied a site in the new four unit block erected in 1917 was the Harmon Drug Company, which was eventually transformed into the law offices at 135 Main Street. A hardware store went in at 133, the Dispatch News offices at 131, and a new Bazaar at Across Main was the brick Kaufmann Drug Company (first floor) and the telephone company and law offices (second floor).

16. Scott Hendrix Furniture & Undertaking Co. c 1912
Same Location Today 2013
Scott Hendrix Furniture & Undertaking Co. c 1912
Scott Hendrix Furniture & Undertaking Co. c 1912 & 2013
The Scott Hendrix Furniture & Undertaking Company, c 1912 is shown in the background of this photo. This location is at the corner of North Church Street and 102 West Main St.
It was destroyed in the 1916 fire and replaced by a brick structure. Sam George is shown here standing by his horse and carriage. Sam was the Clerk of Court for Lexington County. His family owned the flour & gristmill located on Twelve Mile Creek at was is known today as Gibson Pond which, at the time of the photo, was called George’s Pond.

17. George’s Mill at George’s Pond 1940’s - 1950’s
George’s Mill at Gibson Pond 1960 & 2013
Same Location Today at Gibson Pond 2013
Gibson’s Pond 1950’s – 1960’s
George’s Mill at Gibson’s Pond 1960
The sacks carried the trade name, “George’s Flour Mill, Lexington, S.C.” with an imprinted sheaf of wheat emblem and were sold in retail grocery stores in the county. George’s Grist and Flour Mill is a three-story rectangular frame gable-roofed building with a one-story shed room. It is sheathed in corrugated metal siding and covered by a metal roof. Listed in the National Register November 22, George’s Grist and Flour Mill has since burned. Removed from the National Register March 15, 2000.
George’s Grist and Flour Mill is significant in Lexington County’s industrial history. It is the last mill known to have intact internal workings and was the last operating flour mill in the county and the last mill of any kind on Twelve Mile Creek. The building is the second grist and flour mill on the site. The present mill building, which was constructed ca and operated until 1946 by Dibble George, son of E.J. George, milled feed grain, grist, flour, and whole wheat. Milled grains were bagged in two-, five-, and ten-pound paper sacks tied by hand with white wrapping string.

18. Same Location Today Main St. ca. 2013
Lexington SC Main St. Scene. c 1910
Lexington Main St Scene ca & 2013
Two unidentified men in a horse drawn buggy would have been a common sight in the mostly rural Lexington County of the early 1900’s. Distances were relatively short and familiar, and inexpensive automobiles had not yet become attainable. Even the sheriff at this time carried out his duties on horseback.

19. Lexington Main St. Liquor Store c1949
Same Location Main St. Liquor Store c2013
Lexington Main St. Liquor Store c1949
Lexington Main St. Liquor Store c1940 & 2013
This scene shows local townspeople engaged in what looks to be a very intense game of checkers outside the towns package store c1949.

20. Granny Corley’s House c 1900 Granny Corley’s House c 1900 & 2013
Same Location of Granny Corley’s House c 2013
Granny Corley’s House c 1900
Granny Corley’s House c 1900 & 2013
Built in the early 19th century, this structure was home to Barbara Derrick Drafts Corley, affectionately called “Granny” Corley by locals.  Granny was the widow of Laurance Corley, who served in the Gabriel Friday’s militia during the Revolutionary War and owned most of what is now the town of Lexington. After Laurance’s death in 1815, Granny Corley sold her deceased husband’s land to the state for a courthouse and jail.  She divided the rest into half acre lots and sold them to individuals.

21. Same Location Saint Stephens Church c 2013
This Lutheran Church, founded by 1830, and the earliest church in Lexington, dedicated its first-known house of worship on this site in In 1865 Union troops under William T. Sherman burned the structure. The congregation’s second building, dedicated 1870, was destroyed by fire in The third church, built 1901 on the present site, was replaced by the current edifice, dedicated in 1958.

22. Palmetto Collegiate Institute c 2013
The Palmetto Collegiate Institute was built in 1881, the private institute consisted of seven grades. In 1900, eighth and ninth grades were added, and its 153 students were taught by three teachers in a 13 week session. By 1906, when C.M. Efird was president and W. E. Black was principal, the school had an enrollment of 223 students in its three departments: Primary (1-3), Intermediate (4-6), and Collegiate (7-9). Parents paid between $1.10 and $2.90 for each child per month and teachers were paid 5 cents a day for each pupil.

23. Bibliography Photography Sources:
Lexington County Museum, JR Fennell, Director
Google Maps – Google Streetview 2013
Post Card History Series, South Carolina Postcards Volume IV ,
Lexington County & Lake Murray, by Howard Woody & Thomas L. Johnson
Published by Arcadia Publishing Copyright 2000
Lexington County Library, Lexington Main Library , From the South Carolina Room.
SC Deptartment of Archives & History:
State Historic Preservation Office, National Register of Historic Places: Sites in Lexington County, SC.
Text Sources:
JR Fennell, Director Lexington County Museum
Published by Arcadia Publishing Copyright
State Historic Preservation Office, National Register of Historic Places: Sites in Lexington County, SC.