Lee County, Florida

Lee County is a county in the State of Florida. As of the 2010 census, the population was 618,754. The county seat is Fort Myers, and the largest city is Cape Coral.

Lee County comprises the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Lee County was created in 1887 from Monroe County. It was named for Robert E. Lee, Confederate general in the American Civil War.

Incorporated in 1886, Fort Myers is the center of a popular tourist area in Southwest Florida and the seat of Lee County. It is about 120 miles (190 km) south of Tampa at the meeting point of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caloosahatchee River. Fort Myers was the frequent winter home of Thomas Edison, as well as Henry Ford. Lee County has been the host to several Major League Baseball teams for Spring Training, over the past several decades. Currently, it is the spring home of the Boston Red Sox, as well as the Minnesota Twins.

Fort Myers, built in 1850 as a military fort to fend off Seminole Indians, was named after Col. Abraham C. Myers, who was stationed in Florida for seven years and was the son-in-law of the fort’s establisher and commander. In 1858, after years of elusive battle, chief Billy Bowlegs and his warriors were persuaded to surrender and move west, and the fort was abandoned. Billy’s Creek, which flows into the Caloosahatchee River, was named after a temporary camp where Billy Bowlegs and his men awaited ships to take them west.

Lee County

Lee County is the name of twelve counties in the United States:

Lee County, Mississippi

Lee is a county in Mississippi. As of the 2010 census, the population was 82,910. The county seat is Tupelo. Lee County is included in the Tupelo Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Lee county was established on October 26, 1866, and named for Robert E. Lee, the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate States. It was carved from the counties of Itawamba and Pontotoc; therefore, the record and list of pioneers mentioned in those counties embrace a great number who were residents of what is now Lee.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 453 square miles (1,170 km²), of which 450 square miles (1,200 km²) is land and 3.2 square miles (8.3 km²) (0.7%) is water.

Major highways

U.S. Highway 45

U.S. Highway 78

Natchez Trace Parkway

Mississippi Highway 6

Adjacent counties

National protected areas