Conroe, Texas
Conroe is a town in Montgomery County, situated just seven miles east of beautiful Lake Conroe and less than an hour away from Houston. It is a town that has much to offer. Conroe is located a few minutes from the beautiful Lake Conroe, the popular tourist destination and weekend getaway, which offers water sports, golf, tennis, resorts and vacation homes.
Because Montgomery County places a premium on education, the public school districts are recognized for their academic excellence. Nearby Montgomery College offers 30 career tracks and many academic programs, and Conroe residents have access to colleges and universities in the general Houston area.
There are homes in Conroe that cover a wide range of prices, and include single- and multi-family dwellings, condos and town homes, luxury properties, farmland, golf communities, vacation homes, and more.
Conroe has many local services including the Conroe Regional Medical Center, and an active Parks and Recreation Department with classes and recreational activities for children, adolescents, and adults. The fabulous three-day Cajun Catfish Festival is located here, the historic, vaudeville-era Crighton Theatre, and the Conroe Outlet Center, plus excellent dining establishments are all a part of the quality lifestyle that Conroe offers.
LOCATION
Conroe is located seven miles southeast of Lake Conroe in central Montgomery County and 38.6 miles from metropolitan Houston on Interstate Highway 45. Hwy 105 comes into Conroe from the northwest. The Woodlands is 10 miles south; Panorama Village is 5 miles away, and Cut and Shoot is 6.8 miles from Conroe.
TRANSPORTATION/AIRPORTS
Located only 26 miles from Conroe, the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston is a major transportation hub. Two other airports also serve the area: William P Hobby Airport and Ellington Field, both of which are about 50 miles from Montgomery.
BRIEF HISTORY
Early Conroe history begins with a Houston lumberman, Isaac Conroe, who established a sawmill on Stewarts Creek in 1881. A small tram line connected the mill to a branch line of the International-Great Northern Railroad, but Conroe soon transferred his sawmill business down the tracks to the rail junction, where his new mill became a station on the I-GN. A post office was established.in1884. Also in the mid-1880's the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway extended its track through the town, thus making Conroe an important junction of major rail lines. In 1886 Conroe Mill School was set up, and in 1892 the Conroe Independent School District was established. Scores of settlers were coming to the Montgomery County area for the lumber boom. By 1889 the population had grown to 300 and Conroe replaced Montgomery as county seat. By the early 1890's many religious groups were organized, and built their own churches. By 1900 Conroe was Montgomery County's largest community. It was incorporated in 1904 with a population of 1,009, and its first mayor and city council were elected the following year.
By 1914 Conroe had two banks, five grocery and hardware stores, two dry-goods stores, two drugstores, a cotton gin, a waterworks, a planing mill, numerous sawmills, box factories, cross-tie mills, two weekly newspapers, the Courier and the Montgomery County Times, many churches and schools, and an estimated population of 1,374 that grew to 2,457 by 1931.
After years of successful growth, the town's prosperity was threatened in the late 1920s by the dwindling of the local timber supply, and again in 1930 by the Great Depression. The future improved the next year when oil was discovered seven miles southeast of town. The Conroe school district became one of the wealthiest in the state, and its enrollment began to grow rapidly. More schools were built for black students and for white students, and a community center and swimming pool were completed in the early 1940's. The discovery of oil in the 30's brought about a boomtown atmosphere to the area and made hard-working men into millionaires. The beautiful State Hotel and Crighton Theatre were constructed, and a new courthouse and county hospital were completed. Fortune was short-lived, however, and by 1941 the population had fallen to less than half.
During World War II the town's lumber industry revived briefly then went into a steady decline. Chemical firms, the carbon black industry, and a recycling plant came into economic prominence. The Montgomery County Airport originally constructed as a military facility, became a public airfield after the war. The population climbed to an estimated 9,192 in 1961 and 11,969 by 1972.
Increasing numbers of Houstonians took to the road with the completion of I-45, and took up residence around Conroe. The development of Lake Conroe as an alternative water source for Houston increased the population in the early 1970's; in the 80's Conroe had two hospitals, a nursing home, ten medical clinics, nineteen churches, three radio stations, a television station, a cab company, a new sewage treatment plant, and a newspaper named the Daily Courier. By 1990 the population had grown to 27,610.
ABOUT EDUCATION
The Conroe Independent School District covers grades K-12. Forty-seven schools serve 38,016 students via - four high schools, six junior highs, seven intermediate schools, twenty elementary schools, and five special program school sites. CISD is a learning community that emphasizes commitment and cooperation between the school district, parents, and community. CISD's goal is to provide high performance standards that are applicable to the real world. Students receive quality instruction and leadership training that enables them to graduate with confidence and competence.
The area in and around Houston also has many excellent community colleges, four-year colleges and universities: North Harris Montgomery Community College District, Houston Community College System serves 21,140 students, The University Of Texas Health Science Center, University Of Houston-Downtown serves a student population of 6,236, University of St. Thomas, Rice University, and the University of Houston-University Park serves a FT student body of 25,479
