A Methodist church was erected in 1886. In 1884 Leakey became the county seat of Edwards County. The previous county seat was Bullhead, which later became Vance and is now in western Real County. Leakey remained county seat until 1891, when the government was moved to Rocksprings. When Real County was organized in 1913, Leakey was elected the county seat, although the town was not incorporated until June 11, 1951.
Western Carolina Catamounts. The Western Carolina Catamounts are the athletic teams of Western Carolina University. The Catamounts compete in the NCAA Division I Southern Conference. Western fields sixteen varsity sports teams. The Catamount football team competes in Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
Western Carolina is the SoCon 4 seed, but finished 9-9. Everyone else was 8-10 or worse. All 10 teams qualify for the SoCon tournament, with the top six teams earning first-round byes. In one of the two first-round games, the 8th and 9th-place teams face off for the right to get the regular season champion.