Conroe

History

The city is named after Isaac Conroe. Born in the North, he served as a Union Cavalry officer and settled in Houston after the Civil War. There he became a lumberman. Conroe founded a sawmill in this area in 1881. Within the black community, it was known he was in a consensual relationship with the woman, who denied it when they were discovered. In 1941 Bob White was shot to death in the courthouse, during his third trial. The African-American man was arrested in 1936 on charges of assaulting a white woman in Livingston, Texas. (Alternative accounts in the black community said they had a standing consensual relationship.) He was first tried there, before an all-white jury. They convicted him. The case was appealed with the help of the NAACP in Houston because he had not been given a lawyer or been able to contact family, and he was tortured in interrogation. The second trial was held in Conroe for a change of venue. Another all-white jury convicted White again. The case reached the United States Supreme Court on appeal, which had just ruled that coerced confessions were unconstitutional and remanded the case to the lower court for trial. During the proceedings in the courtroom, in front of the judge and numerous witnesses, the husband of the alleged victim shot White in the back of the head and immediately killed him. The husband was arrested and tried the following week, and was acquitted. In 1931 George W. Strake discovered the Conroe Oil Field. Distillate and natural gas were produced from the Cockfield Formation at a depth of about . cA second well in 1932 produced 1200 BOPD. By 1935, the field had produced 40 million barrels of oil. During the 1930s, because of oil profits, the city briefly boasted more millionaires per capita than any other U.S. city. After…

Geography

The Office of Management and Budget classifies Conroe as a principal city within the metropolitan area. The city is about north of Houston. When Conroe incorporated in 1904, the city limits encompassed a 5.44 square mile area. From 1970 to 2000, the city limits expanded from 7.15 square miles to 42.35 square miles. Beginning in 2007, the city outlined a plan to continue expanding its city limits through annexation. According to Chapter 43 of the Texas Local Government Code, home rule municipalities like Conroe may annex territory that is adjacent to the city's current boundaries, with certain restrictions. The city's 2007 plan projected doubling its size through a combination of voluntary and involuntary annexations. In April 2015, residents of the gated community of April Sound filed a lawsuit against Conroe after their community was annexed on January 1, 2015. The lawsuit was dismissed in March 2017. Involuntary annexations were a major issue in the 2016 mayoral election, the first after April Sound residents were incorporated into the city. Proponents of annexation contended that it was a useful tool to "promote and facilitate growth and progress," while those in opposition were concerned about whether annexed territories receive a "fair shake" in the negotiations. In 2017, the city council voted in favor of additional involuntary annexations. Conroe is in the southwest corner of the East Texas Piney Woods. The Piney Woods consist of pine trees and hardwood forests. The most common type of tree in the southwest Piney Woods is the loblolly pine. Shortleaf pine are also abundant. Pockets of blackland prairie vegetation are also present, but are disappearing due to urbanization. In 1926, the Texas A&M Forest Service purchased 1700 acres of Piney Woods to…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,024
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  11,307
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,190
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  11,020
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,994
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  8,555
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  8,235
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  6,988