Doak Springs

Doak Springs is on Farm Road 3403 a half mile east of Leo in central Lee County. The small, black community centered around the Doak Springs school, which was organized in 1897. A Mr. Doak, of nearby Lexington, donated land for the school, which was officially known as Community School Number 49. The settlement was named after the springs running through Doak's land. In 1909 the community school was relocated to property owned by John Roberson. It was renamed Doak Springs District Number 33 and had thirty students. By 1919 its enrollment had grown to 120. In 1925 the Rosenwald Fund provided for a new school building with expanded facilities; student enrollment was around 150 into at least the 1950s. The Doak Springs school was consolidated with the Lexington school in 1967. In January 1936 Scott Phoenix, an early settler known as Uncle Scott, founded the Morning Star Baptist Church near the Doak Springs school. Church services were held in the schoolhouse until the congregation erected a church building around 1937. A larger church was built in 1951. There was still a church at the site until at least the early 1980s, and in 2000 the community's population was fifty.