Biohazard Cleanup Near Stephens Bluff Silex, MO

Silex is a tiny fourth-class city in Lincoln County in northeastern Missouri, covering just 0.19 square miles.

Silex got its start in the 1880s when the Northern Hannibal Railway was extended to the town, its post office opened in 1882, and the community was incorporated in 1886.

Silex was named for the silica sand mined nearby — silex is another word for flint or silica — and many of the town's early residents worked in the silicon sand mine beside the railroad.

When imperfections in the sand shut down the mining operation, Silex's settlers stayed and turned to farming, and the town became a small trading and social center for the surrounding countryside.

The 2010 census counted 187 people in 57 households in Silex.

After repeated flooding of the low-lying old town, including a devastating 2008 flood, many Silex residents relocated uphill to the Stephens Bluff development, and the 2020 census counted only 24 people inside the city — though Census Bureau estimates put the population back at about 264 by 2023.

Children in Silex are served by the Silex R-I School District, and the historic Duncan Mansion still stands in the little community.