Editing Lexington, Illinois (section)

===First advertisement and sale of town lots===
Gridley and Brown first offered lots in the town for sale at a public auction on 30 April 1836 at 10:00 in the morning. They began their printed advertisement for the sale by telling readers that the town was on the main road from [[Springfield, Illinois|Springfield]], via [[Bloomington, Illinois|Bloomington]], to [[Chicago]] and that their new town was a mile from the [[Mackinaw River]]. They wrote that Lexington "is located on the margin of a fine rolling prairie, near a large and inexhaustible body of the best timber the country affords, sufficient to justify the immense settlement already being made." They told potential buyers that there were two saw mills and a fulling mill nearby. Moreover, they added, building had already begun. For those with good security, one twelve months credit was available.<ref>''Sangamo Journal'' (Springfield, Illinois) 16 April 1836, p.3.</ref>