During the era of Mexican rule the Lee County area was part of the Milam District, a region extending from El Paso to the Navasota River. After Texas gained independence, the region was a part of the five adjacent counties, Bastrop, Burleson, Fayette, Milam, and Washington. In 1871 the new town of Giddings was founded, in what was then Washington County. Discussion began about the need for a new county so that residents would not have to travel so far to the county seat. A meeting of citizens from western Burleson and Washington counties and northeastern Bastrop and Fayette counties, held in January 1873, resulted in a resolution calling for the establishment of a new county to be named in honor of Robert E. Lee. The legislature passed the bill 4/14/1874. A boundary dispute, however, began over the western segment of Burleson County, which lawmakers had originally intended to include in a new county called Franklin County, to be formed just north of Lee County. When the Franklin County bill was indefinitely postponed, questions arose about what to do with the territory. The disputed area became part of Lee County May 2, 1874. The new county included portions of Burleson, Washington, Bastrop, and Fayette counties and was bounded on the east by East Yegua Creek and on the southeast by Cedar Creek. The two leading contenders for county seat were Giddings and Lexington. An election was held 6/2/1874 after a heated and bitter campaign. Although Lexington was the older town and was surrounded by better farmland, Giddings won, primarily because it was a railroad town. -Handbook of Texas Online: Lee County