Lee County was created on April 14, 1874 from parts of Bastrop, Burleson, Fayette and Washington Counties. The first county courthouse was completed four years later in 1878 on a public square just south of the business section in Giddings. It was a rather ornate structure, two stories with a mansard roof topped by a tower. That Courthouse burned to the ground in November of 1897. When the building burned, the small community of Lincoln petitioned for the new building to be built in Lincoln. The results: 1400 to 1000 votes........Giddings won again.