Biohazard Cleanup Near West Robert Lee Robert Lee, TX

Robert Lee is a city in and the county seat of Coke County, Texas, located at the confluence of Mountain Creek and the Colorado River, about 31 miles north of San Angelo.

Robert Lee was founded by R. E. Cartledge and his father-in-law, L. B. Harris, and named for Robert E. Lee, who is thought to have camped on the Colorado River near the townsite while serving in Texas as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army's Second Cavalry from 1856 to 1861.

In 1891 Robert Lee won a county seat election over nearby Hayrick - arguing Hayrick lacked an adequate water supply - and most of Hayrick's population moved to Robert Lee almost immediately.

A rock courthouse was built in Robert Lee in 1891 and served until it was replaced in 1956, and by 1892 the town had 570 residents, twenty businesses, a bank, and a weekly newspaper, the Coke County Rustler.

Robert Lee was not incorporated until 1929, nearly four decades after becoming the county seat.

As of the 2020 census, Robert Lee had a population of 1,027, making it the largest city in Coke County, which itself had only 3,285 residents.

Just upstream from Robert Lee is the E. V. Spence Reservoir on the upper Colorado River, completed in 1970, whose striped bass fishing drew sportsmen from across the Southwest from the mid-1960s until the late 1990s.

Robert Lee serves as the region's oilfield supply center for Coke County, a county named for Richard Coke, the 15th governor of Texas.

Coke County was one of Texas's entirely dry counties until voters approved the sale of beer and wine in 2005.

Robert Lee students are served by the Robert Lee Independent School District, home of the Robert Lee High School Steers.