Leesburg

Leesburg is on the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway and State Highway 11, seven miles west of Pittsburg in western Camp County. It was named for the John Lee family, early settlers in the area. In 1874 Leesburg was one of three towns proposed to be the county seat of Camp County; it finished second to Pittsburg. That year a post office called Leesburgh was established with James G. Credille, the county treasurer, as postmaster. The spelling was changed to Leesburg around 1900. When the East Line and Red River Railroad was built through the county in the late 1870s, Leesburg became a station on the line. By 1884 the community had a mill, a gin, three stores, and a population estimated at fifty. The town grew rapidly during the 1880s, and by 1890 its population was estimated at 150. By 1896 the number of residents had increased to an estimated 300, and at that time the town had two churches and two schools, in addition to a flourishing commercial section. From the 1890s through the early 1930s the population of Leesburg continued to be reported at around 300, but it had declined to an estimated 120 by 1943. By 1955 the Leesburg school district had been consolidated with the Pittsburg Independent School District, and by 1968 Leesburg's population had fallen to seventy-five. It was 115 from 1970 to 2000, when the community still had its post office as well as eighteen rated businesses.