The prenatal development of lateral motor columns in the lumbar spinal cord was studied by electron microscopy in human embryos and fetuses ranging from 9 mm to 260 mm crown-rump length ($5{sim}30$ weeks of gestational age). At 9 mm embryo, the lateral motor column were developed from ventro-lateral projection into the marginal layer and composed of primitive neuroblasts. At 20 mm embryo the primitive motor neurons were packed closely together and could readly be distinguished from primitive glioblasts by a presence of large nuclei. The primitive multipolar neurons were observed in lateral motor column at 40 mm fetus. At 80 mm fetus multipolar neurons were characterized by their many dendrites and axons in the vicinity of motor neuron perikarya. At 260 mm fetus, the motor neurons were large and contained all intracytoplasmic structures in the cytoplasm which were also found in mature motor neuron in lateral motor column. The first axo-dendritic synapses found at 40 mm fetus and increased in number throughout fetal development. Axo-somatic synapses with spherical vesicles were first observed at 80 mm fetus. A few axo-somatic synapses were found at next prenatal stages. Axo-dendritic and axo-somatic synapses contained mixed populations of spherical and flattened vesicles by 120 mm fetus. These findings indicate that axo-dendritic synapses develop prior to axo-somatic synapses in the spinal cord during neurogenesis.