County of town: Lincoln County
Location of town: Old Alexandria Rd., (Old US-61), Old Alexandria (Old Hines)
"Alexandria is the site on which Hines was later located. Alexandria was laid out in 1822 and became the county seat in 1823. In 1822 the St. Louis and Hannibal Railroad bypassed the town and it died out by 1829. Both these towns are officially dead, but still have residents. They were located near the intersection of CR KK and SH 61. (It was followed later by what is now called OLD Alexandria – SEE below)
"Old Alexandria was a town on the old site of Alexandria. Old Alexandria was established about 1860 and deserted by1886. (It was preceded by what is now called Alexandria – SEE above.)" ~ Ghost Towns, USA
"Alexandria was located on the Auburn road, five miles north of Troy. It was surveyed and laid out in 1822, and was the second place where the county seat was established. The plat was not recorded. It was the first promising town ever laid out in the county. The streets were broad, crossing at right angles. There were spacious public squares, parks and reservation for public buildings. As the county seat remained there only a short time, it did not become a place of importance, and it now (1888) exists only on paper." ~ History of Lincoln County, 1888, Goodspeed, pgs. 405, 406.
"It was a post-office five miles north of Troy." ~ Campbell's Gazetteer of Missouri, 1874, pg. 314.
"At one time the county seat of Lincoln County. It was made the county seat in 1823, and remained as such until 1829. Its population never exceeded fifty people. It was situated five miles north of the present site of Troy. For many years a post-office called Old Alexandria was kept there, but it was discontinued more than a quarter of a century ago (from 1901)." ~ Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri, 1901, Conard, Vol. I, pages 19, 20.
"It was situated on Section 36, Township 50 N, and Section 1, Township 49 N, Range 1 W." ~ New Atlas of Missouri, 1874, Campbell, Map 21.
"A post office in the extreme northeast part of Bedford Township, about five miles north of Troy. It was established in 1886, and discontinued between 1904 and 1910. Named for old Mr. Israel Hines, who lived near the site, by some of his relatives who had secured the establishment of the post office there. He was doubtless the same man as Israel R. Hines, said in the County History to have been born in Wayne County, West Virginia, in 1847, to have spent his early years rafting on the Ohio River, and later to have farmed land in Lincoln County.
On the same site was earlier located the old town of Alexandria, later called Old Alexandria. Alexandria was surveyed and laid out in 1822, and became the county seat in 1823. It was the second place to be chosen as county seat for Lincoln County, the first having been Monroe (q.v.).
After the St. Louis and Hannibal Railroad in 1822 had passed a few miles away from it, however, it rapidly declined. The last court session was held here in 1829, after which the county seat was moved to Troy. Some thirty years later it was revived under the name of Old Alexandria, the change being made to avoid confusion with the rising town of Alexandria in Clark County, which assumed that name in 1848 and had a post office since 1853.
Old Alexandria is first listed as a post office in 1876. It was discontinued, however, by 1886, the same year that saw the establishment of Hines. The old place was named for Alexandria, Virginia, on the south side of the Potomac River opposite Washington, D.C."
~ Postal Guide; Hayward; Goodwin; Parker, MISSOURI IN 1867, pg. 301; Williams N.E., MISSOURI I, pg. 399; HIST. LINCOLN, pgs. 405-6; 554-5; COUNTY ATLAS 1878, pg. 14; COUNTY MAP 1939; Miss Elliott's thesis; Andy J. Brown