Robert Lee

Robert Lee, the county seat of Coke County, is at the junction of State highways 158 and 208 and the confluence of Mountain Creek and the Colorado River, thirty-one miles north of San Angelo in the central part of the county. It was founded by R. E. Cartledge and his father-in-law, L. B. Harris, who owned land at the site, and was named for Robert E. Lee. Cartledge and Harris pushed to move the county seat from nearby Hayrick to Robert Lee, arguing that Hayrick lacked an adequate water supply and was too far from the center of the county. Though at the time Hayrick was much more developed than its neighbor, in 1891 Robert Lee won the county seat election, and most of the Hayrick population moved immediately to Robert Lee. In the same year the post office opened, and by 1892 Robert Lee had a population of 570 and twenty businesses, including a bank and a weekly newspaper , the Coke County Rustler (later the Robert Lee Observer). A rock courthouse was built in 1891 and replaced in 1956. The town was incorporated in 1929.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.