24/7 Biohazard and Crime Scene Cleanup in Mexico, MO

Mexico is the county seat of Audrain County in central Missouri, nicknamed the 'Main Street of the Midwest.'

Mexico was laid out in 1836 as 'New Mexico,' a major stop for settlers heading to the Republic of Texas, and became the county seat under its present name in 1837 — the 'New' was dropped after the Mexican-American War.

Mexico was incorporated as a town on March 5, 1855, was reached by the Wabash Railroad in 1858 and the Alton Railroad in 1872, and was first chartered as a city in 1874.

Mexico once called itself the 'Fire Brick Capital of the World' — the A.P. Green Fire Brick Company, founded in 1910, led a refractories industry whose bricks were even used at NASA's rocket launch site at Cape Canaveral, though both major plants closed in 2002.

Mexico was also formerly known as the 'Saddle Horse Capital of the World,' and its Simmons Stables, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, still draw horse buyers from around the world; legendary horse trainer Tom Bass was a Mexico native.

Mexico is home to the Missouri Military Academy, a college-preparatory boarding school, and it hosts the Miss Missouri Pageant each year.

Hardin College, a Baptist college for women founded in 1873, operated in Mexico until it closed during the Great Depression; its restored 1,200-seat auditorium now hosts community theater and concerts, and the rest of the campus houses the Mexico Public Schools administrative offices.

Mexico had 11,469 residents in 4,700 households at the 2020 census.

In the 1980s Mexico was one of six nationwide finalists for Saturn's new U.S. auto plant, losing out to Spring Hill, Tennessee — a loss that pushed local leaders to secure the four-lane U.S. Route 54 highway that now serves the city.

The Audrain County Historical Society is based at Graceland, an antebellum mansion in Mexico's Robert S. Green Park that hosted Ulysses S. Grant during the Civil War.