Conroe

The plaque tells the sawmill town's story. The Black town grew beside it and apart from it. A first school for Black children opened at Madeley Quarters, south of Conroe, soon after the mill school of 1886, and since 1900 most Black residents have lived in a district on the southeast edge. In 1903 Dr. Jimmie Johnson founded Conroe College, a Baptist normal and vocational school supported by Black churches and conventions, and it passed 400 students by the end of World War I. A Black high school followed in 1919. Conroe's schools were not desegregated until 1968.

What the plaque says

Conroe Established in the forest in 1881 as Isaac Conroe's sawmill, 2-1/2 mi. east of present site, at juncture of two railroads, first named Conroe's Switch; then Conroe's; in 1890, Conroe. Lumbering brought prosperity. Chosen county seat in 1889. The country was still so wild, a deer was shot on the Square during Courthouse construction. Incorporated, 1904. Continued to grow in spite of several epidemics, two disastrous fires. The 1931 Strake Oil discovery turned it into a boom town. Now an industrial, forestry and petroleum center. Incise in base: Montgomery County Historical Survey Committee, 1966

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Conroe Fire of 1911 — steps away
• Montgomery County Courthouses — steps away
• The Isaac Conroe Property — 0.3 mi
• Conroe Oil Field — 4.6 mi