In 1811, a legislative act was passed authorizing the separation of Lee from the Town of Western. James Young Jr. and Joshua Northrup formed the committee accomplishing this and requested the new town be called Lee after their home town of Lee, Massachusetts. The new boundary lines were surveyed by Benjamin Wright. March 3, 1812, the first town meeting was held at the old West schoolhouse (the only frame one in town). The same schoolhouse is the one-story portion of the present Walter and Alfred Tuthill farmhouse on Hawkins Corners Road. In 1823 a portion of Lee was given to Annsville decreasing its acreage to the present 27,771 acres.The northern part of the town is hilly, rising sharply north of Stokes and Lee Center along the Fonda Patent northern boundary. Springfed streams have cut into this section of the Tug Hill foothills providing dependable waterpower. West Creek provided waterpower for the Lee settlement on the State Road, now Route 69, and Canada Creek in the center of town is well supplied by small streams. The southeast portion of the town is quite level and has the best farmland in Lee.

In 1823 a turnpike road (unplanked) was completed commencing at Stokes, going through West Branch, Ava and on to Turin. In 1826 this road was extended south to Rome. The Rome and Turin Plank Road was completed in 1848. One tollgate was located at Nisbet hill (now Stokes hill). The toll was 10 cents for two horses and five cents single. In 1826 daily mail service began between Rome and Turin. Later a stage followed this route.

A daily stage providing transportation and mail service served Point Rock, Lee Center, Stokes, Delta, Ridge Mills and Rome. Another stage went from Lee Center to Rome via Lorena.

In 1864 Rome was the largest cheese market in the world. Jesse Williams had established the first cheese factory in the United States in 1851 at Rome. American cheese was much in demand in Europe. Swiss farmers were attracted to this area and many started cheese factories. Dairy farming was a profitable business and land value increased in Lee. Some of the town’s cheese makers were Jacob Karlen, John Reinhardt, John Ritter, Samuel Kappler and John Anken.Many of these cheese factories closed down by the mid-20th century. Transportation of fluid milk had become more efficient and the local farmers received a better price for the fluid milk than the cheese factories could offer. Dairy farming is still the town’s largest industry but now only the larger dairy farms continue to operate.

The Town of Lee had 17 public schools in 1845. Most of these were still in use in 1957 when consolidation closed them down. School No. 5 on the Lee-Point Rock Road (now Skinner Road) was built of stone in 1833 and still stands. Lee Center Union School was built in 1872. The town barn is located on its former site.For many years high school education was not available in this town. Often students would board in Rome from Monday to Friday to attend Rome Free Academy. Harold “Hi” Paine became the Point Rock to Rome stage operator in 1913 and later in the 1930s began transporting schoolchildren. The Town of Lee is a prosperous town but it was dependent on the Rome area for employment. In the early 1950s the growth of Griffiss Air Force Base created a need for housing, resulting in the building of three developments on upper Turin Road.