Editing Lee County, North Carolina (section)

==History==
The nature of Native American habitation of the land eventually comprising Lee County is not well known. People of European and African descent settled in the area in the 1740s and 1750s.<ref name= history/> In the 1850s, the state's first commercial coal mine opened in the community of [[Cumnock, North Carolina|Egypt]].<ref name= history/><ref name= vocci>{{cite web| url = https://www.ncpedia.org/geography/lee| title = Lee County| last = Vocci| first = Robert Blair| date = 2006| website = NCPedia| publisher = NC Government & Heritage Library| access-date = June 19, 2024}}</ref> During the American Civil War, the area supplied coal and iron to the forces of the [[Confederate States of America]].<ref name= vocci/><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.ncpedia.org/endor-furnace| title = Endor Furnace| last = Hill| first = Michael| date = 2006| website = NCPedia| publisher = NC Government & Heritage Library| access-date = June 19, 2024}}</ref>

In 1907, residents of the city of Sanford of [[Moore County, North Carolina|Moore County]] beginning pushing for the creation of a new county to ease the burden of their travel to Moore's seat of [[Carthage, North Carolina|Carthage]].<ref name= history>{{Cite web |title=Our History |url=https://leecountync.gov/community/our_history/index.php|access-date=June 18, 2024|publisher=Lee County Government |language=en-US}}</ref> The North Carolina General Assembly passed a law creating Lee County from portions of Moore and [[Chatham County, North Carolina|Chatham]] counties effective April 1, 1908 pending ratification in a plebiscite by the people living in the proposed county.<ref>{{cite news| last = McNeill| first = W. H.| title = Lee County| newspaper = The Carthage Blade| page = 2| date = March 7, 1907| url = https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn91068054/1907-03-07/ed-1/seq-2/}}</ref> The referendum was held on July 1, with voters approving the new county 875 to 40.<ref>{{cite news| title = Officially Born July the Fourth| newspaper = The News & Observer | page = 3| date = July 5, 1907| url = https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn85042104/1907-07-05/ed-1/seq-3/}}</ref> County officials were installed on February 17, 1908.<ref>{{cite news| title = Lee County In Working Order| newspaper = Daily Industrial News| page = 5 | date = February 18, 1908| url = https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn93065750/1908-02-18/ed-1/seq-5/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title = Lee County Begins Business At Last| newspaper = The Sanford Express| page = 3| date = February 21, 1908| url = https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn89071020/1908-02-21/ed-1/seq-3/}}</ref> The county courthouse was erected on a site between Sanford and Jonesboro and occupied by county officers in early March 1909.<ref>{{cite news| title = Local Briefs| newspaper = The Sanford Express| page = 3| date = March 5, 1909| url = https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn89071020/1909-03-05/ed-1/seq-3/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title = Lee Superior Court| newspaper = The Sanford Express| page = 4| date = March 5, 1909| url = https://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn89071020/1909-03-05/ed-1/seq-4/}}</ref>

Lee County's population and economy steadily grew after its creation, fueled by the success of tobacco, furniture, quarrying, brickmaking, and textile industries. In 1947, the cities of Sanford and Jonesboro merged.<ref name= history/>