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History
in a Pecan Shell
The town came into being when a Doctor E.
A. Lee, built a sanatorium here (to take advantage of the dry climate) around
1905. A store and post office soon opened and by 1906 they had a school serving
25 students for the 1906-07 school year. Dr. Lee platted a town on a section of
land he had purchased and the post office moved to the new site. The population
of the town was only 25 by 1914 and the post office closed in 1917. Lees had a
newspaper to promote the town and encourage land sales, but this only lasted two
short years. Lees experienced a minor oil boom in the late 1920s but by the time
the Great Depression arrived it was already fading. The town's hotel burned in
the mid 30s and the school closed in the late 30s. The population in the 1940s
was estimated at 25 - and the town faded from most maps. It does appear on the
detailed TxDoT map of Glasscock County. There is no cemetery shown around Lees.
Lees
Texas Forum There
is another ghost town you don't have in your list. Known as Lee's Store or Lees,
it is in northern Glasscock County at the intersection of FM 33 and FM 461. There
used to be a little general store and about twenty houses. Now there is just an
oil field service yard and building and few unoccupied run-down houses. There
used to be a sign stating that Lees had been recognized by Texas Electric for
some kind of community award. When I was a little boy growing up in Glasscock
Co, we used to go through there on our way to Big
Spring for shopping, etc. We could always tell when we came through Lees by
the rich hydrogen sulphide smell from the oil field surrounding the area. - Joe
Wooten, Minooka, IL, March 3, 2006 |
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Glasscock
County 1920s Map showing Lees
(Near
Howard County line)
Courtesy
Texas General Land Office |
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