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History in a
Pecan Shell
R. E. Cartledge and L. B. Harris are credited with being town founders, using
their land to form the new town and name it after the Confederate general. Harris
and Cartledge had planned to wrest the county seat status from Hayrick,
and they succeeded in an election held in 1891.
The population of Hayrick
gave Robert Lee its first boost. Robert Lee’s post office opened that year and
a new courthouse
was constructed. The population stood at 750.
Robert Lee incorporated
in 1929. Throughout the years the town has thankfully escaped fire and tornadoes
and the residents enjoyed the tranquility. The population remained under 1,000
residents until the early 1950s. A new high of 1,391 was reached in the late 1980s.
Robert
Lee, Texas Today |
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“When
Robert Lee Gets a New Railroad"
A letter from Ruth Elliott Sellers:
My mother and her family lived
in Robert Lee when she was a teenager. As teenagers do, she picked up songs of
that era. “When Robert Lee Gets a New Railroad" was written about the time
that the towns of Robert Lee and Bronte
vied over who would get the railroad. (The Kansas City, Mexico and Orient - later
bought by what is now the Sante Fe.) Robert Lee lost and the railway was completed
to Bronte in 1907... more |
1920s
Coke County Map showing ghost towns not on the map today
Courtesy General Land
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