Lee

Formed December 14, 1826 (70^th county)

Lee County (33,162), Leesburg (3,479)

A Neo-Classical Revival red/brown brick courthouse with clock tower was built for Lee County.  It was built in 1918 on Courthouse Avenue between Fire Street and Leslie Highway.  James J. Baldwin is the courthouse architect.  It features columns and a working clock.  Veteran memorials are across the street.  The county was established on December 14, 1826 from Creek Lands as the 70^th county.  Starkville (1826 & 1856), Webster (1854), and Leesburg (1872) have all served as county seat.  Lee County is named for Virginia patriot and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Richard Henry Lee.  He is also the namesake of the county seat.  The county center is 9.2 miles Northeast of Leesburg. 

Lee County government consists of a sheriff, an administrator, a coroner, a clerk, and a tax commissioner (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Sixteen Superior Court Judges serve Lee, Bibb, Chattahoochee, Crawford, Harris, Houston, Macon, Marion, Muscogee, Peach, Schley, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taylor, and Webster counties and Six County Judges, court clerk, and county attorney serve Lee County (judicial.) The county is in southwest Georgia immediately north of Albany, Georgia and southeast of Columbus, Georgia.  The Flint River forms its eastern border.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Sumter, Crisp, Worth, Dougherty, and Terrell counties. 

The area of the county is 356 square miles.  It is 74 out of 159 counties in the state.  It ranks 57 out of 159 in population in the state.  It has a density of 93.2 persons per square mile making it 60 out of 159 in the state.  Lee County has 12.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 19 crosses north to south in the county from Sumter County to Dougherty County.  United States Highway 82 cuts the southwest tip of the county from Terrell County, west, to Dougherty County, south.  The county is shaped like a vase with Leesburg located in the southwest quarter of the county.  Leesburg is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 10.5% of the county population.  This county is in the Albany Metropolitan Statistical Area.