In 1881, Houston lumberman Isaac Conroe established a sawmill on Stewart's
Creek two miles east of the International Great Northern Railroad's
Houston-Crockett line on a tract of land in the J. Smith survey, first
settled in the late 1830's. A small tram line connected the mill to
the track, but Conroe soon transferred his operations down the tracks
to the rail junction, where his new mill became a station on the I-GN.
In January 1884, a post office was established at the mill commissary,
and, at the suggestion of railroad official H.M. Hoxey, the community
took the name Conroe's Switch within a decade the name was shortened
to Conroe.In the mid 1880's the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway
extended its Navasota Montgomery spur eastward through the town, which
thus became the only junction of major rail lines in the county. A
lumber boom beginning in the late nineteenth century in the Piney
Woods of eastern and central Montgomery County attracted scores of
settlers to Conroe. In 1889, Conroe replaced Montgomery as the county
seat. By 1892 the community had become a shipping center for lumber,
cotton, livestock and bricks. It had five steam-powered saw and planing
mills, several brickyards, a cotton gin, a gristmill, and several
hotels and general stores.The prosperity of the local agriculture
and timber industries in the early twentieth century enabled Conroe
to continue its rapid early growth despite severe fires in 1901 and
1911, which destroyed much of the business district near the courthouse
square. After a few years of sustained growth, the town's prosperity
was threatened in the late 1920's by the dwindling of the improperly
managed local timber supply. Then in 1930 the spreading effects of
the Great Depression struck Montgomery County, drastically curtailing
lumber production and forcing many mills to close. In November 1930,
Conroe's only bank abruptly failed and pushed many residents and institutions
into financial doldrums for many years. However in 1931 oil was discovered
just outside of town and Conroe's future success the centered on chemical
and oil production.
In 1881, Houston lumberman Isaac Conroe established a sawmill on Stewart's
Creek two miles east of the International Great Northern Railroad's
Houston-Crockett line on a tract of land in the J. Smith survey, first
settled in the late 1830's. A small tram line connected the mill to
the track, but Conroe soon transferred his operations down the tracks
to the rail junction, where his new mill became a station on the I-GN.
In January 1884, a post office was established at the mill commissary,
and, at the suggestion of railroad official H.M. Hoxey, the community
took the name Conroe's Switch within a decade the name was shortened
to Conroe.In the mid 1880's the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway
extended its Navasota Montgomery spur eastward through the town, which
thus became the only junction of major rail lines in the county. A
lumber boom beginning in the late nineteenth century in the Piney
Woods of eastern and central Montgomery County attracted scores of
settlers to Conroe. In 1889, Conroe replaced Montgomery as the county
seat. By 1892 the community had become a shipping center for lumber,
cotton, livestock and bricks. It had five steam-powered saw and planing
mills, several brickyards, a cotton gin, a gristmill, and several
hotels and general stores.The prosperity of the local agriculture
and timber industries in the early twentieth century enabled Conroe
to continue its rapid early growth despite severe fires in 1901 and
1911, which destroyed much of the business district near the courthouse
square. After a few years of sustained growth, the town's prosperity
was threatened in the late 1920's by the dwindling of the improperly
managed local timber supply. Then in 1930 the spreading effects of
the Great Depression struck Montgomery County, drastically curtailing
lumber production and forcing many mills to close. In November 1930,
Conroe's only bank abruptly failed and pushed many residents and institutions
into financial doldrums for many years. However in 1931 oil was discovered
just outside of town and Conroe's future success the centered on chemical
and oil production.