• Our ZIP CODES are 01238 for Lee and 01260 for South Lee.

• The Town of Lee boasts a church with the tallest timber framed steeple in New England (185'  5 3/4"). The First Congregational Church of Lee.

• There are two major lakes within the town of Lee, Laurel Lake located north of town on route 20 and Goose Pond located southeast of town off route 20.
  

• Lee is located at approximately 42° 3’N latitude - 73° 2.5’W longitude at an elevation of 1,000 feet above sea level.
  

• According to the 2000 Census, the Town of Lee has a population of 5,985 people with 2,442 households.
  

• The town's area is approximately 27 square miles.
  

• For every 100 females in Lee, there are 94 males.
  

• See what the State of Massachusetts has to say about Lee.
  

• If you know other interesting facts about the TOWN OF LEE,
  let us know.

The community supported some textile manufacturing in the 19th century but its first paper mill was built by Samuel Church in 1806. As textiles declined in the town and region, paper-making took its place as the foundation of the community's economy. By 1857 there were 25 paper mills in Lee producing $2 million in paper, as well as a set of subsidiary industries producing lime and paper-making machinery.

In 1852 another major industry was launched in the town, as builders and architects discovered Lee marble. It is said to be the hardest and finest marble in the world. Large scale quarrying was carried on in Lee for such projects as construction of a wing of the Capitol. Almost half a million cubic feet of marble was quarried and shipped on the Housatonic Railroad in 1867. About the same time, a new process for making paper solely from wood pulp was adopted and the poplar forests in the town fueled a huge leap in paper production, making Smith Paper Company of Lee the largest paper producer in the world until the forests were depleted.

Lee, divided into three villages, still retains the first house ever built in town, dated 1760, still hosts a paper company and a lime kiln and still has many of the farmhouses, estates, business blocks and factories that exemplify its history. Residents like to believe that history is still alive and well in Lee.

Lee is located in western Massachusetts, bordered by Tyringham and Great Barrington on the south, Lenox on the northwest, Becket on the east, Washington on the northeast, and Stockbridge on the west. Lee is 9 miles south of Pittsfield, 122 miles west of Boston, and 138 miles from New York City. Narrative compiled by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development.