Joe Lee, Texas

Robertson's Colony member Jefferson Reed bought a plot of land for the community and named it Mud Springs, most likely because a spring in the area provided water for cattle to drink and kept the area muddy. The first settlers came to the community in the 1830s. Reed's daughter, Millie Reed McLean, renamed it Joe Lee in 1912 for Joe Reed and Lee Underwood, the two main business owners in the community; Joe Reed was a store owner and may have been one of her family members, while Underwood was a blacksmith. There were several scattered homes, a church, and the Reed Cemetery in Joe Lee in 1948. It then started to decline, but the County Line Baptist church was still in operation in 1989. There are two cemeteries located near the church, both named Reed and McLean. Its population was 2 from 1990 through 2000.[2] The cemeteries are maintained by descendants of the original settlers.[3]

Joe Lee is located north of the Little River, 4 mi (6.4 km) southwest of Rogers in southeastern Bell County,[2] on Farm to Market Road 2184 near the Milam County line.[3] Sunshine Road passes through the community.[4]

In 1903, Joe Lee had a school with two teachers and 83 students and sat on land that Jefferson Reed donated for it to be built on sometime after the 1830s. It joined the Rogers Independent School District in 1958. It had a school in 1948.[2] It was built around the 1870s and one of the two teachers was W.C. Sypert.[3] Today, the community continues to be served by the Rogers ISD.