USA > Texas > Montgomery County > A History of Montgomery County, Texas > Part 12
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10 Loc.
Loc. cit.
11 Loc. cit.
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Charles L. S. Jones and was known as the Jones Academy. It had both boarding and nonboarding pupils and taught all subjects. Jones was assisted by his son and daughter who built this up to be a very popular school. When the Civil War came on Jones' son with most of the older boys of the village left for the war and the father was compelled to close the school. After the war was - over the building was rented out to two returned soldiers to open a school. These two men were T. J. Peel and Alexander Boyd, both being graduates of Austin College, then located at Huntsville, Texas. 12
The first public school was built in 1895 on the same spot where the other schools had been located. The house was planned for a school and lodge and when built it adequately housed the Masonic Lodge in its upper story. The downstairs consisted of two rooms, each twenty-four feet square, a twelve foot wide hallway, and two doors at each end. 13
The pupils for this school were separated into groups of primary and grammar grades, the few who pursued the more advanced studies sat in the room with the grammar school students. The curriculum varied, but more attention was devoted
12 Ibid., p. 5. 13
Ibid., p. 6.
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to mathematics and grammar. Latin was usually given two years to the most advanced pupils. English was taught though grammar and spelling were stressed throughout the school. The dictionary was the favorite textbook and classes were combined so that the entire school above the primary spelled from the dictionary. After 1875 the "Blue Back Speller" was a favorite. 14
Some of the teachers of the early schools of Mont- gomery became prominent men. Doctor John T. Moore, who later became a prominent doctor in the Medical Arts Building in Houston, was one time prin cipal teacher at Montgomery. Doctor W. B. Bizzell, later president of Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College held this humble office. Doctor C. P. B. Martin, charter professor of Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College who taught agricultural chemistry there was a teacher at Montgomery. Doctor Frank Calcott, professor of the Department of Spanish at Columbia University, was at one time Superintendent of the school at Montgomery. 15
Some of the school trustees who served nearly a quarter of a century as members of the board of trustees were: Doctor Charles B. Stewart, succeeded by his son Edward Stewart,
14 Ibid., p. 9 15 Ibid., p. 8.
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Doctor F. A. Young, Jim Riley, succeeded by his son John Riley, Jim Sanders, succeeded by his sons Willie and Robert Sanders. Lester Peel was president of the board for fourteen years and W. B. Gay was an active member for more than fifteen years." 16
In the 1920's the Montgomery schools were consolidated into an independent school district through the influence of Mildred Price, then a member of the school board, by interesting her : brother, Representative Robert A. Powell, in securing the passing of a special act of the State Legislature to create the Independent School District of Montgomery. 17
The Conroe schools began in 1886 when a one room rough lumbered house was constructed at Isaac Conrce's Mill. It had hand-made benches for desks and its first teacher was Miss Ione Burns (later Mrs. J. A. Knight). This school only lasted five months of the year. The next school house was also a one room affair and was located in the southeast part of Conroe where Jim Traylor lived. In 1894 another room was added and also another teacher. At the time of this school's organization Conroe was under the community system of public schools. Under this system the public schools were organized by the County Judge who actes as 16Loc. cit. 17loc. cit.
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ex offico school superintendent. He appointed three trustees in each neighborhood, who organized a school, gave it a name and number, then furnished the County Judge a list of all the children of scholastic age that would attend school. Tax money would then be appropriated accordingly. 18
In 1899 a new building was built, having four painted rooms. This building was situated on the block of ground south of the present site of the William B. Travis Junior High School Build- ing. At the time of its organization there were only ten grades in the plan, and the three last were designated the high school. Honor - able D. A. Frank, now a prominent attorney of Dallas, Texas, was the first Superintendent of schools. The first high school graduating class of the school was composed of one young man and three young ladies who received diplomas of graduation at the close of the scho- lastic year 1901-1902. 19
The class of the year 1906-1907 was composed of four young men and eleven young women. The plan still carried only ten grades and Hulon N. Anderson had been the superintendent since 1905, as well as the teacher of all high school subjects except Latin, which was taught by J. T. Terry. In 1909-1910, the class in the 18 Hulon N. Anderson, "History of the Conroe High School, " (unpub - ;ished paper, no date), p. 1.
19 Loc. cit.
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tenth grade graduated twelve people and during this year under the superintendency of W. C. Hanner, arrangements were perfected for the addition of the eleventh grade. 20
In the mid-term of the scholastic year 1911-1912 the entire school was moved into the first brick building built in Conroe. Later this building was named the J. O. H. Bennette Building in honor of J. O. H. Bennette who served the district as president of the Board of Trustees for seventeen years. During his long tenure he contributed thousands of dollars of his own money to help equip and finance the school system of Conroe. 21
In January 1927, the high school was given a separate building -- the central unit of the present David Crockett High School Building -- and the elementary school was housed in the J. O. H. Bennette School Building. The teachers and pupils of the high school group moved most of the furniture and furnishings, including the library books, by carrying them by hand from the old building to the new school. 22
In 1927 some new additions were made at the Bennette Building -- among which was a wooden building to house a Free
20 Ibid., p. 2. 21 Loc. cit.
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Kindergarten; this had been moved from the old school site to the lots now occupied by the new Education Building of the First Baptist Church, and the six room Jessie W. Harris Home Economic Cottage, planned and built under the teacher and by the boys of the Industrial Arts classes, occupied the former site of the Kindergarten or "Addison-Kiddy-Koop, " named in honor of H. C. Addison, a long time member of the Board of Trustees. He had contributed freely of his means in construction of the Kiddy-Koop and in providing shop equipment and mechanical drawing supplies for the Industrial Arts classes in the basement of the Bennette Building. 23
The scholastic population grew slowly until the oil boom came to the district in 1932. The following year the scholastic population was doubled and the school's enrollment increased proportionally. Temporary "shacks" were built and it was on October 11, 1935, that K. G. Schafer, President of the Board of Trustees, turned the first shovel of dirt in a ground breaking ceremony which was the beginning of the additions and new buildings and construction of the athletic field, a plant which now comprises the quarters of the David Crockett High School. Since 1935 the entire system has been advancing and improving in building, equipment, organization, administration,
23 Loc. cit.
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curriculum enrichment, qualifications of teachers and administra- tors. 24
Montgomery County has had several newspapers. The first one was called the Montgomery Patriot and was published by John Marshall Wade in 1845. The first regular copy appeared April 26, 1845. In one of the first copies of this paper the following adver - tisement appeared:
PROSPECTUS of the MONTGOMERY PATRIOT,
"Let all the ends thous aim'st at, be thy Country's thy God's, and Truth's"
The undersigned proposes publishing in the Town of Montgomery, a NEWSPAPER of the above title, as soon as a sufficient number of subscribers can be obtained to justify the proprietor in the undertaking :-- and, in order that a perfect understanding may exist between the public and the Editor, we deem it expedient to issue the present number, as a specimen of what may be expected from us.
Although we do not arrogate to ourselves those high, classical, or literary attainments claimed by many of the editorial corps, yet we feel a confidence that our humble endeavors will contribute to the support of the institutions of our country generally, and the interests of our country particularly, and that at all times we will be governed by a respect for the maintainance of right, justice, freedom and humanity.
Feeling almost certain of sufficient patronage from our fellow-citizens, we venture to promise that our first regular number will be published on Saturday, the 26th day of April next, and appear regularly thereafter, on every Wednesday morning.
24 Ibid., p. 3.
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TERMS: For each volume of fifty-two number if paid in advance -- Four dollars. If paid within three months -- Four dollars and a half. At the end of the year -- Five dollars.
J. M. Wade, Proprietor
Montgomery. March 29, 1845. 25
Soon after organizing the paper Wade moved to Huntsville, where he published the paper for a year and then sold out.
Some of the other newspapers are as follows: Mont- gomery Register, published in 1870 in Montgomery; Montgomery Press, published in 1871 in Montgomery; Willis Observer, published in 1889 in Willis; Conroe Enterprise, published in 1893 in Conroe; Willis Progress published in 1908 in Willis. Montgomery County has two live papers at the present time. They are weekly news - papers and are called the Montgomery County News and the Conroe Courier. The Conroe Courier was first published in 1892.
The industrial development of Montgomery County was very slow in the first ten years of its history. The first settlers who came began to develop their lands by clearing away the forest and putting fields into the cultivation of cotton and corn. Due to primitive conditions, a period of slow development resulted through the late 1830's.
25 Montgomery Patriot, July 2, 1845, in Sam Houston Memorial Museum.
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Conditions improved after independence was won. Mont- gomery received a generous share of the tide of settlers who poured into Texas in the late 1880's and early 1850's. These settlers were mostly well-to-do planters, and some of them were large slave owners. About that time the first settlers began to reap the reward of their early labor. Their potential wealth in cattle, lands, and timber could not be turned into money as the new settlers came. Montgomery was the only town in the county of any importance. It soon became one of the most important trading centers in Texas. Long teams of oxen, drawing loads of cotton, lumber, and other products, plodded their way slowly to Houston, the nearest market, sixty miles away. These freight wagons brought back all kinds of merchandise which were shipped from New York, New Orleans, and other distant points by way of Galveston. 26
With the increase of wealth, the crude life of the pioneers was replaced by one of a more confortable existence. Professional men and their families -- late comers from the old states -- lawyers, teachers, and doctors brought into the county the culture of the Old South. A few Northerners, full of the energy and initiative that characterized them, came also.
26 Martin, op. cit., p. 39.
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Some of the early industries which had been necessary to the pioneer of Montgomery County gave away to modern factories and later to mass production. In the first days there were grist mills and cotton gins which began to be installed as farming became the chief money crop. It was to these gins and mills that the people carried their cotton and corn to be ginned or ground.
One of the first gin and grist mill that was operated in Montgomery was owned by Dr. J. H. Price, It was built in the early 1840's and was situated about nine miles northwest of the town of Montgomery. 27
Another gin was an old horse-power gin operated by George Dean. It was situated across Lake Creek on Ford's Lake. The exact date of the establishment of this gin is not known, but it operated for several years prior to 1845. It was abandoned later when steam gins came into the county.
Another cotton gin and grist mill in the county was owned and operated by John Robertson. This gin and mill was a steam type and was located at New Caney around 1866; and another gin in this area was established by William Campbell Copeland in the 1850's. An early industry in Montgomery County that did not survive the Civil War was a tannery establishment by Antony Martin in
27 Ibid., p. 43
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1843. This tannery was operated until the middle of the Civil War, when materials became scarce and Martin was forced to close. Another short-lived industry was a small pottery located on a farm south of the town of Montgomery. It was established in the late 1840's. The remains of the old kiln and a few broken pieces of pottery still mark the location. 28
One of the first sawmills in Montgomery County was run by George Dean. It was located on Ford's Lake about seven miles south of Montgomery. The steam boiler was brought from Galveston, Texas, in the 1860's. It is said that this boiler came out of a steam- boat, the famous Harriett Lane, that was sunk by the Confederates in the Civil War. The boat was raised and the boiler removed and brought to Montgomery on ox carts. This first mill was a crude affair. It is said that the saw had only two teeth. There is no definite information concerning the closing of this mill. It is known that it was run for several years at its original site and was later removed to another part of the county. 29
Because of the abundance of excellent timber, there were numerous other mills which operated in the county through the years. In the last quarter century of the history of Montgomery
28 Ibid., p. 40. 29 Loc. cit.
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County there have been numberous small mills which would move from one forest to another, some successful, but most failures. Some of the successful ones were the Grogan Lumber Company, located at Magnolia; Foster Lumber Company, located at Fostoria; Hunt Lumber Company, located at Willis; Delta Land and Timber Company, which was located at Conroe. Other mills of considerable size are located at Porters, New Caney, Willis, and Conroe.
Giving place only to the oil industry in this county in rank of importance is the timber and lumber business. For many years the principal source of revenue came from the forests that until a very few years ago covered this area. Millions of feet of lumber and hundreds of carloads of cross-ties were shipped from this county annually. The people were educated in lumber; they talked and lived lumber. Even the smaller lads could look at a pine tree and give one a fair estimate of the amount of lumber it would produce.
No doubt the lumber industry has been and will continue to be one of the chief industries of the county. There is a large National Forest Reserve situated in the northcentral part of the county. The timber is carefully selected and sold to mills that pay the highest price. In later years the pulp-wood industry has develop- ed along with the lumber industry. The small mills buy the rights to
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cut off the trees suitable for lumber, and the pulp-wood men 30 purchase the rest of the same lease for pulp-wood.
The oldest industry of Montgomery County is farming. The soil was rather fertile in the beginning and the rainfall and temperature favorable for agriculture. As the early settlers cleared away the forests and began to farm, they found that almost any food crop grew well. Small fields of cotton were planted in the early 1840's. Just as the first gins began to appear, more farmers planted cotton for their money crop. Corn, potatoes, cane, and vegetable crops were planted for home use and local trade.
During the late 1840's a steady stream of settlers came into the county with their families and slaves. It was in the 1850's that cotton really became a source of income. Cotton was hauled to Houston and Galveston on wagons and ox-carts and sold or traded for other commodities. After the Civil War started, an increased demand for cotton raised the price until most farmers were plant- ing almost all that they could possibly harvest. Almost every plan- tation eventually built its own cotton gin. .31
After the Civil War and during the Reconstruction Period conditions in Montgomery County became very hard for the farmers.
30 Ibid., p. 48. 31 Loc. cit.
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The price of cotton was so low that it was almost worthless. The freeing of the slaves caused many of the large farmers to dispose of their farms. After the Negroes were emancipated, the labor situation became such that the farmers could not continue to plant a large acreage of cotton. They had to plant just about what the family could grow and harvest. The feeling between the freed slaves and their former masters was not always friendly. Many of the former slaves left the farm and sought relief from the different government agencies that were organized to aid them. After the Reconstruction period farming continued somewhat as it did before the Civil War. In addition to the culti- vation of cotton, many families in the central part of the county resorted to the cultivation of tobacco. The center of this industry was located at Willis, and it is said that Willis boasted of having seven cigar factories in 1895. A large number of big tobacco buyers from the various eastern states would come to Willis each season to buy their tobacco, claiming the Willis tobacco had a flavor that could not be found elsewhere. The United States Congress lifted the tariff on Cuban tobacco, which had a very de- vasting effect on the Willis tobacco industry. Due to the fact, that Cubans, with cheaper labor, could raise tobacco more
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cheaply than the farmers around Willis, the industry soon vanished. 32
In the last half century, farming has given way to the lumber - ing of second growth timber and to ranghing. Today there are very few large farms in the county. The thief crops are corn, water- melons, and garden truck. The soil has been exhausted by poor farming methods. It is only through heavy fertilization of the soil that any crop can be grown with much satisfaction.
In the beginning, ranching in this region was very unsatisfactory. The land was covered with heavy forest and under - brush. There were very few prairies, and the early settlers found that cattle could be grown only where the forests had been cleared. Very few cattle were raised until after World War I. The people have now found that the land is better adapted to ranching than farming. It has been proven that the wornout soil in the vicinity can be terraced, fertilized, and prosperously mowed so that almost any kind of grass good for cattle can be grown. Where proper pasture practices are being used, there is probably no place in the state more suited for ranching. 33
For more than thirty years before the discovery of oil in the county there had been talk that it was there. As far back as
-
32 Conroe Courier, June 30, 1933.
33 Martin, op. cit., p. 50.
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1900 shallow tests were made in the county and evidence of a major field developed, but for one reason or another the tests were abandoned before striking the productive oil sands that underlie vast areas in Montgomery County. Thousands of dollars were spent by wildcatters in a vain effort to pierce the rich pools, but either the wells were abandoned before reaching the pay sand or they missed the pools entirely. 34
The drilling of adeep water well for the Sants Fe Rail- road more than a decade ago occasioned a slight flurry in oil circles. A small showing of oil was made by the well, or at least that was the report that was circulated. Evidently little or no cre- dence was given the prospects of finding oil in paying quantities as the excitement soon subsided and the matter was dropped almost entirely with the exception of an occasional reference by some of the old timers to the subject.
Some shallow tests were made in the now productive area but drill bits never penetrated to a sufficient depth to disturb the ageless tranquility of the lakes of "black gold" under the dunes south and east of Conroe. Stirring tales were told of fortune seek- ing gentlemen who staked their last dollar on a hope of finding the
34 Conroe Courier, April 8, 1932.
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precious fluid. Divining rods, seismographs and all the para- phenalia used in the locating of hidden treasure were brought into use. 35
It remained for George Strake, a young oil operator from Saint Louis, Missouri, to make the find that changed the history of this county. Strake came to Conroe in the spring of 1931. Nobody paid much attention to him, as there had been dozens of promoters in the field before and at that time several wild cat tests were in operation. Wild rumors and conflicting reports were in the air and all had amounted to naught in so far as striking oil was concerned. The Kelley-Baker well west of town was going down at that time and it was being watched with considerable specu- lation by local people and a few oil men; hopes were high but the well was abondoned. 36
Strake got very little consideration from local people but he stuck to his theory that oil was to be found if drilled for at the right place; so he rambled through the woods and sand dunes south of Conroe for months. He accumulated a block of leases with an area of eight thousand acres and selected the spot to spud in his well. He staked everything on his judgment that he had
- 35
Loc. cit. 36 Loc. cit.
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selected the right spot and with the courage of youth and the determination of a veteran he set about the business of proving his convictions. He was unable to interest others in financing his wildcat, borrowed money on his life insurance to the limit, burned wood under his boilers because it was chaper than fuel oil, and after many weary days of drilling, Strake, On December 11, 1931, got the first indication of oil. On December 13, he brought the well in, the first in Montgomery County. 37 Today the county has several thousand natural producing wells. The Conroe area at one time was considered the third largest oil field in the United States.
Other industries of importance in Montgomery County are the several gasoline refineries, a carbon black plant, and two creosoting plants.
37
Loc. cit.
CHAPTER IX
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
This study has attempted to give a general outline of the role played by Montgomery County in the history of Texas. The importance of the county's contribution has long been over - looked by historians of this state. Additional research is needed to fill in the spaces which still remain in the story of the county's past. Although the author of this study could not find any definite proof in the short time he searched, it is the generally understood belief of many of the old timers of the county that Doctor C. B. Stewart, not George C. Childress, was the author of the Declara- tion of Independence and writer of the first Constitution of Texas. He was certainly one of the most learned men at the convention and had served as secretary to practically every important meet- ing prior to the declaration convention. Further study on this matter by some interested person will no doubt give an interesting new outlook on this phase of Texas history.
A reason why the history of Montgomery County has been overlooked lies in the fact that practically all of the early history is concentrated around the town of old Montgomery, a place which due to close ties and relationship of its citizens, resent
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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A. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SOURCES
Abstract of All Original Texas Land Titles Comprising Grants and Locations to August 31, 1941. 10 vols. ; Austin: General Land Office, 1941. Vol. I.
Anderson, Hulon N., "A Thumb Nail Sketch of Willis Male and Female .College, Willis, Texas. " Unpublished paper written for the Willis High School graduation commence- ment, no date.
, "History of the Conroe High School. " Unpublished paper, no date.
Barker, Eugene C., Texas History for High Schools and Colleges. Dallas: Turner Company, 1920. 653 pp.
Bennett, J. L. Colonel, "Order to Major R. Smithers. " October 15, 1842. Sam Houston Memorial Museum.
Bills of First Congress, December 1837. State Archives. Number 900.
Bolton, Herbert Eugene, Texas in the Middle Eighteenth Century. 3 vols. ; Berkeley: University of California Press. 1915. Vol. III, 501 pp. Studies in Spanish Colonial History and Administration.
Brown, John Henry, History of Texas From 1685 to 1892. 2 vls. ; Saint Louis: Becktold and Company, 1892. Vol. I, 631 pp .; Vol. II, 591 pp.
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