Lexington

 

Town (1990 pop. 28,974), Middlesex co., E Mass., a residential suburb of Boston; settled c.1640, inc. 1713. On Apr. 19, 1775, the first battle of the Revolution was fought there (see Lexington and Concord, battles of). The site is marked by a monument on the triangular green, around which are several 17th- and 18th-century buildings, including Buckman Tavern (1710), where the minutemen assembled. Other attractions are Monroe Tavern (1695), British headquarters during the battle; and the Hancock-Clarke House (1698), where John Hancock and Samuel Adams were awakened by Paul Revere's alarm. The first state normal school in the country was established there in 1839. The theologian and reformer Theodore Parker was born in Lexington.

Bibliography

See F. S. Piper, Lexington, the Birthplace of American Liberty (11th ed. 1963).