Leesburg, originally known as "Wooten Station", was founded in 1870 as the Central of Georgia Railway arrived in the area. In 1872, the town was renamed "Wooten", and the seat was transferred from Starksville. In 1874, the town was incorporated and renamed again to its present form of Leesburg.[6]
Leesburg is the site of the Leesburg Stockade incident, in which a group of African-American teenage and pre-teen girls were arrested for protesting racial segregation in Americus, Georgia, and were imprisoned without charges for 60 days in poor conditions in the Lee County Public Works building.[7][8]
Geography
Leesburg is in south-central Lee County. U.S. Route 19 passes through the city, leading north 26 miles (42 km) to Americus and south 11 miles (18 km) to Albany. State Route 32 is Leesburg's Main Street; it leads east 32 miles (51 km) to Ashburn and west 18 miles (29 km) to Dawson. State Route 195 leads northeast from Leesburg 17 miles (27 km) to Leslie.
The Lee County School District holds pre-school to grade twelve, and consists of two primary schools, two elementary schools, two middle schools, and a high school.[12] The district has 330 full-time teachers and over 5,350 students.[13]
