NC Forest Service Lee County Office

About forestry service, 27330, Sanford, NC, US, North Carolina

Sanford is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, North Carolina, United States. Since its incorporation in 1874, Sanford has been an active railroad and industrial center, known as one of the nation's largest producers of brick and pottery products. The population was 30,261 at the 2020 census. The geographic center of North Carolina is located northwest of the city, in Chatham County. == History == Sanford was named for C.O. Sanford, a railroad civil engineer instrumental in the building of the rail lines through the area that formed the foundation of what became the city of Sanford. Sanford is located in Lee County, North Carolina, which was formed from parts of the surrounding three counties in 1907. On creation of the new county, Sanford and Jonesboro were the major towns in the area. Rather than decide which would be the county seat, the decision was to place the county's new courthouse directly between the two towns. For decades, Lee County was the only county in the United States to have a courthouse with an RFD address. In 1947 Sanford had grown to such an extent that it eventually merged with Jonesboro.