Lee County History - Est. 1874

Lee County was created on April 14, 1874 by House Bill 179, and named after General Robert E. Lee. Its boundaries were created from the four surrounding counties: Washington, Burleson, Bastrop, and Fayette. The area had become so populous and the residents wanted a closer and more centrally located county seat, rather than having to travel to the courthouses in Caldwell, Brenham, La Grange, and Bastrop to sit on a jury.

According to A History of Lee County Texas, after the boundaries of the county were fixed and a name selected, there was the problem of choosing a county seat. Giddings and Lexington were the leading rivals for the honor. Lexington was the older town and was surrounded by better farmland. The city fathers confidently laid out a Courthouse square. But Giddings was a railroad town and was proud of its high, healthy location astride the divide between the Brazos and Colorado Rivers watersheds. In the heated and bitterly contested election, Giddings won out.

The first Lee County courthouse in Giddings burned in 1897 and was replaced in 1899 by the current structure, and was named a historic landmark in 1968. The building, classified as a Richardsonian Romanesque Style, was restored in 1982. It is built along the lines of the New York State Capitol.

Lee County is located in south central Texas on major transportation routes between Houston, Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and San Antonio . U.S. Highway 77 and U.S. Highway 290 intersect in Giddings, the county seat.

A diversified economy has developed through the years. According to the souvenir book written on the Giddings centennial in 1971, Giddings was built and maintained upon the traditions of industry, faith, and honesty. A visit to Giddings and the smaller communities of Lee County today will quickly demonstrate that those honorable traditions are still stoutly maintained.