Things to Know BEFORE Moving to Conroe, TX

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The logging industry was responsible for Conroe’s economic growth. The development of railroads made moving lumber commodities to market simpler, which resulted in the expansion of mills. The sawmills drew new families to the area, contributing to the town’s overall growth.

Near the neighborhood of Beach, in 1886, locals built Conroe’s first one-room public school out of rough lumber and makeshift desks. Most of the Conroe Mill School students were the children of mill workers. The school was open once a year for a term that lasted for five months.

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In 1892, twelve separate common school districts merged to form the Conroe Independent School District, and the following year, a second White school opened in the city.

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By 1900, Conroe had become the most populous community in Montgomery County. It was formed in 1904 with a demographic of 1,009 residents, and the following year saw the election of the city’s first mayor and city council. The construction of an electricity-generating facility on nearby Stewarts Creek in 1906 introduced electric lighting to the community for the first time.

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The Conroe Independent School District was extended to cover a total area of twenty-five square miles during the following two decades. By 1913, the district had a total of approximately 617 students enrolled. Six years later, in 1919, the city of Conroe opened its first high school specifically for black students.

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Despite devastating fires in 1901 and 1911 that wiped out much of the business center near the courthouse square, Conroe maintained its rapid expansion thanks to the success of local agriculture and the lumber industry.

Conroe had an estimated 1,374 residents in 1914 and was home to two banks, five grocery and hardware shops, two dry-goods stores, two pharmacies, a cotton gin, a waterworks, a woodworking mill, many sawmills, box manufacturers, cross-tie mills, and two weekly news channels, the Courier and the Montgomery County Times.

In 1920, Conroe, TX opened a hospital to treat various illnesses. In 1921, the city bought its first fire truck, and 1923 saw the construction of the first fire station in the area.

With the addition of 15 rural common schools and 600 students from throughout central and southern Montgomery County, the Conroe Independent School District was expanded to its current size of 330 square miles in 1925. Private buses took children from closed schools to new ones in Conroe.

After the collapse of Conroe’s only bank in November 1930, the city’s economy remained stagnant for a long time, affecting many individuals and businesses. Due to sharp revenue drops, schools in Conroe needed help maintaining their academic years.

As the decades progressed, the city’s population grew, first to an estimated 1,858 in the mid-1920s and then to an estimated 2,457 by 1931.

On December 13, 1931, George W. Strake made a significant discovery seven miles southeast of town; this discovery opened the Conroe oilfield and resulted in an economic boom for the county. Oil distributors, retailers, and service providers, together with thousands of workers, flooded into town and helped revitalize the economy within weeks.

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In 1933, the population was recorded to be over 5,000, and there were 84 different enterprises operating locally. Since the discovery of oil inside its borders, the Conroe school district has become one of the richest in the state and has experienced tremendous student enrollment growth.

Originally built for military use during World War II, the Montgomery County Airport on Farm Road 1484, three miles to the northeast of town, has been a civilian airport since 1945. Conroe is the location of the Montgomery County Library, which opened in 1946.

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In 1952, approximately 7,313 people called Conroe home, and the town was home to 340 companies. From an estimated 9,192 in 1961, Conroe, Texas’s population grew to 11,969 in 1972.

After completing Interstate 45, many people from Houston moved to the outskirts of Conroe. Seven miles to the northwest on the West Fork of the San Jacinto River, the creation of Lake Conroe in the late 1960s and early 1970s sparked even more expansion in the area.

There were 8,873 students enrolled in the Conroe Independent School District in 1971 and 15,112 students enrolled in the district by 1976.

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Twenty-eight schools in Conroe I.S.D. had a total of 1,200 teachers in 1980. Since the Great Depression, Conroe Normal and Industrial College has had trouble keeping its doors open, and by 1980, enrollment had dropped to only 176 students.

The city of Conroe, Texas, had two hospitals, a skilled nursing facility, ten medical centers, nineteen houses of worship, three radio channels, a television channel, a taxi company, a modern wastewater treatment plant, and a newspaper called the Daily Courier in the 1980s.

According to a 1982 estimate, the total population was 18,034. Conroe’s population went from 27,610 in 1990 to 43,617 in 2000 and to 63,322 in 2015.