Editing Lexington, Missouri (section)

===Growth as a trading center===
John Aull opened a mercantile store in 1822, and he was soon joined by his brothers James and Robert. The Aull Brothers firm soon had a frontier chain, also operating stores in [[Independence, Missouri|Independence]], [[Westport, Kansas City|Westport]] and [[Liberty, Missouri|Liberty]]. Other merchants came, as did farmers and planters who specialized in hemp, tobacco and cattle.

With the emphasis on trade and agriculture, Lexington and Lafayette County also had one of the largest slave populations in the state. Many homes in town still have the old slave quarters behind them.

Lexington was a bustling and prosperous city, the largest city west of [[St. Louis]] in the 1830s and 1840s. During that period, it was the major center for merchants and outfitters as trappers, traders, and emigrants prepared to travel westward on the [[Santa Fe Trail]], [[California Trail]], [[Oregon Trail]], and the [[Mormon Trail]] to [[Utah]]. Goods sent west from Lexington were valued at $450,000 in 1843. Rope walks, slaughter houses, a foundry and a furniture factory were among other early Lexington industries. In the 1840s, [[Russell, Majors and Waddell]], the largest trading firm in the West, established its headquarters on Main Street. In the 1850s, these three men had 3500 wagons carrying goods from [[Missouri]] to [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]], [[Denver]], and other points, and in 1860, they would found the [[Pony Express]].

The steamboat trade on the river became a hugely profitable investment, and the wharf was a center of commerce. Productive coal mines, among the first in the state, were dug into the surrounding river bluffs to provide fuel for river steamers. In 1852, one of the worst steamboat accidents in Missouri history occurred at Lexington. The side-wheeler ''[[Saluda (steamship)|Saluda]]'' was carrying 250 Mormons en route to [[Salt Lake City]] when its boilers exploded, killing over 150 people. Many children orphaned by the blast were adopted by Lexingtonians.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} In March 1856, the ''[[Arabia (steamboat)|Arabia]]'' steamboat was stopped and searched by pro-slavery [[Border Ruffians]] near Lexington, who confiscated 100 rifles and 2 cannons en route to the slavery-free [[Kansas Territory]] from the abolitionist [[New England Emigrant Aid Company|Massachusetts Aid Society]].<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Lexington Weekly Express|date=March 14, 1856}}</ref><ref name="seizure">{{cite news | newspaper=The Perrysburg Journal | title=Seizure of Arms. | page=3 | date=March 29, 1856 | location=[[Perrysburg, Ohio]] | url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/194766608/ | url-access=registration | access-date=July 8, 2023}}</ref>