The Isaac Conroe Property

The sawmill that Isaac Conroe built set off a timber boom. Lumber drew settlers through the 1880s and 1890s, and by 1892 the town shipped from five steam-powered saw and planing mills and several brickyards. In 1913 the Delta Land and Timber Company opened one of the largest milling operations in the South southwest of town, and it eventually employed 700 people. The cutting outran the forest. By the late 1920s the timber supply was dwindling, and the Depression closed many mills before the oil discovery of 1931 gave Conroe a second economy.

What the plaque says

The Isaac Conroe Property Temporary Montgomery County Courthouse. A native of New Jersey, Isaac Conroe (1834-1897) served with the Union army during the Civil War. Moving to Southeast Texas with his wife Margaret (Richardson) (1846-1896) in 1866, he lived at Lynchburg and Houston. In 1878 he built a sawmill at Haltom (12 mi. S) and three years later moved his business to the Beach community (2.5 mi. E). A tram line connected the mill with the main line of the International and Great Northern Railroad. The town of Conroe grew up around the intersection and Isaac conroe became the first postmaster of the new settlement. The original section of this residence was built by Conroe shortly after he purchased the site in 1885. Four years later he contracted with the county commissioners to use the property as a temporary courthouse.County records and offices were moved from Montgomery (17 mi. W) and remained here until a new courthouse was completed in 1891. In 1896 Conroe sold the house to his son William Munger Conroe (1870-1947), a prominent lumberman and oil man. Major additions were later made to the home, which was originally a two-story frame structure with an outside stairway. (1981)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Conroe Fire of 1911 — steps away
• Montgomery County Courthouses — 0.2 mi
• Conroe — 0.3 mi
• Conroe Oil Field — 4.3 mi