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History
in a Pecan Shell
The town of Montgomery predates Texas Independence. Andrew J. Montgomery
established a trading post west of town as early as 1823. In 1837 it became the
first county seat of the third county formed by the Republic of Texas. The east-west
boundaries of Montgomery County had originally been between the Brazos and Trinity
Rivers.
The town was granted a post office in 1846 and it was incorporated
two years later. Montgomery was at the crossroads of two stage lines - the best
status a town could have in pre-railroad
Texas. In 1850 it had its courthouse as well as a Masonic lodge, and Baptist and
Methodist churches.
Montgomery's first problem occurred in in the 1850s
when the town was hit by a yellow fever epidemic. The second problem was when
the railroad arrived. In 1870
when the Houston and Great Northern Railroad came to Montgomery County, the tracks
came directly through the center of the county. This one act bypassed Montgomery
and established Conroe at the same time. The third blow came when Conroe
was declared the Montgomery county seat in 1889. Conroe
had taken everything but its name.
The courthouse and railroad depleted
the population of Montgomery from 1,000 in 1890 to only 600 by 1892. By 1925 there
were only 350 Montgomerites. After WWII
it increased to 750 in 1950 but this was short-lived. The town's population shrunk
again back to only 300 in the 1980s. |
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