Leesburg

History

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. 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.

Geography

Leesburg is in south-central Lee County. U.S. Route 19 passes through the city, leading north to Americus and south to Albany. State Route 32 is Leesburg's Main Street; it leads east to Ashburn and west to Dawson. State Route 195 leads northeast from Leesburg to Leslie. According to the United States Census Bureau, Leesburg has a total area of , of which , or 1.06%, are water. Kinchafoonee Creek flows through a western corner of the city; it leads south to the Flint River, part of the Apalachicola River watershed.

Race & ethnicity