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History
in a Pecan Shell
The town of Montgomery pedates 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 occured 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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