Leesburg, originally known as "Wooten Station", was founded in 1870 as the Central of Georgia Railway arrived in the area.

In 1872, the town was renamed "Wooten", and the seat was transferred from Starksville.

[6] Leesburg is the site of the Leesburg Stockade incident, in which a group of African-American teenage and pre-teen girls were arrested for protesting racial segregation in Americus, Georgia, and were imprisoned without charges for 60 days in poor conditions in the Lee County Public Works building.

State Route 195 leads northeast from Leesburg 17 miles (27 km) to Leslie.

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 3,480 people, 884 households, and 666 families residing in the city.