Lees

Lees is at the intersection of Farm roads 33 and 461, about fifteen miles north of Garden City in extreme north central Glasscock County. The community was established in 1907 by Dr. E. A. Lee, who built a sanatorium there for his patients and opened a store and post office. In 1906 a school called Lucien Wells was built at the site; during the 1906–07 school year it had twenty-five students and one teacher. Lee bought a section of land in 1909, laid out a townsite, and moved the post office there; a man named Durmington became postmaster. Around 1914 the town had twenty-five residents, two general stores, a printing company, a physician, and a cattle breeder. The post office closed in 1917. At one time Lees had a church, a garage, and a newspaper, the Reporter, which was published for two years and used mainly to sell surrounding land and to publicize the county. Oil discoveries brought a surge of activity, and for a brief period the settlement grew to about 100 houses. By the 1930s, however, the town had declined. Lee's hotel was destroyed by a fire around 1935, and the school closed about three years later. A population of twenty-five and one commercial building were reported there in the 1940s. County maps in the 1980s indicated a rural settlement with one business.