Leslie was established by J. W. Bailey in 1884. Bailey was a timber operator with financial interests in the area. The post office opened in 1889 and the town was incorporated by the Georgia General Assembly in 1892. According to Ken Krakow, “Bailey first named the town Jeb, the initials of his father, J. E. Bailey, but the post office was erroneously given the name of JOB. Bailey disliked the name “Job” so he circulated a petition to rename the town Leslie for his younger daughter, Leslie Vestell Bailey.”

Leslie is also the home of the Georgia Rural Telephone Museum, which boasts one of the world’s largest collection of antique telephones. It is presently closed to the public, however.

Note: This post replaces “Commerce Street, Leslie”, which was published, with slightly different photographs, on 15 June 2010.