Conroe's motto 'The Miracle City' has ties to early fires and 1930s oil boom

Throughout Conroe's 120-year history since its 1904 incorporation, it has carried the motto of "The Miracle City." 

In the 1950s and 1960s, a reporter for Conroe newspaper The Courier Ed Watson wrote a regular column titled "Main Street in Miracle City." Today, "Miracle City" is the name for nonprofit Compassion United's campus for the city's homeless community.

A bakery is titled Miracle City Bakery and a nonprofit bringing the city together in worship and praise is named the Miracle City Collective. 

When Conroe composer Bill Thompson wanted to pen a song about Conroe, he titled it the "Miracle City March." 

But what does the term mean and where did it come from? 

Here are several possible suggestions of how the motto came to be and events that contributed to the title:

Conroe's start 

Former Union captain Isaac Conroe mustered out of military service in Galveston. The enterprising veteran traveled by train to the then wilderness north of Houston to establish a sawmill. 

He constructed his sawmill in 1881 east of the north/south railroad tracks in the Beach or Beech community. He would travel up from his home in Houston by train and his stop became known as Conroe's Switch which was later shortened to Conroe. Other timber and saw mills came up in the Conroe area as well in the late 1800s and early 1900s. 

In Conroe, sawmills and lumber are regarded as the first industry that supported the town. The town incorporated in 1904. 

Devastating fires 

In 1901 and 1911 the developing city experienced two fires that changed the path of the city. 

The 1901 fire wiped out the town center, which was then located on the east side of the railroad tracks in the area of Ave. A. Conroe resident J.K. Ayres gave the city land on the west side of the north/south tracks, and that is where the town center built up after 1901. 

This area also experienced a large fire on Feb. 21, 1911, that burned more than 65 wood structures on the east side of downtown. The business owners built back in brick, and those buildings are still in use today and a part of downtown's historic charm. 

By February 1912, 20 businesses had re-opened in brick buildings on the fire-devastated blocks of the 1911 fire.

In his memoir, “A Silhouette of Conroe, Texas 1976” Cedric N. Nutter, wrote Nick and Kate Carnochan lost their cafe in the fire and had the first business to open back up afterward. The named their new place "The Phoenix" reflecting the rising from the ashes of city residents. 

Overnight millionaires

The second industry to support the city was oil and gas. As early as 1919, The Courier newspaper reported the possibility of oil in the ground surrounding Conroe. Up until 1931 it had not been successfully located or extracted. 

It took George Strake, an enterprising developer from St. Louis to make that happen. 

Strake was attending mass at Conroe's Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Dec. 13, 1931 when a roustabout delivered the good news. 

In June 1932, another of his wells struck oil. More oil fields opened in the area leading to even bigger strikes and companies such as Humble Oil and Refining Co. (now Exxon) and the Texas Co. (Texaco) came on board leading to further development of the fields. 

The Conroe oil field became the third largest in the country was a huge boost to Conroe and the surrounding area. 

"The repercussions for Conroe and Montgomery County were mind boggling," said Montgomery County native and historian Robin Montgomery. "The city of Conroe bent low at the time by the depression blanketing the country, almost overnight became transformed, assuming the label of 'The Miracle City'." 

Montgomery published the book "Transformation of the Miracle City" in 2014. 

The city's population swelled with fortune seekers flocking to the area. 

"(During the oil boom), at one time Conroe was home to more millionaires per capita than any other city in the US," said Suann Hereford, Heritage Museum of Montgomery County executive director according to materials in the museum. 

'Ruts to the Miracle City'

Conroe resident Mary Alice Hunt compiled her memories of early Conroe into the 1975 book "Ruts to the Miracle City." 

Hunt, whose maiden name was Beazley, was born in 1900 and came to Conroe in 1904. Her father, Alexander Hamilton Beazley, ran a grocery store in Conroe in the very early 1900s.

In the book, she discussed the havoc the big trucks coming in and out of Conroe's oil field played on the local unpaved roads. 

She talked about the amount of rain the area received did not pair well with the big trucks, equipment and many newcomers to town. 

"The streets became impassible. They were so bad you could not get to town in a car. Conroe streets were a common joke across East Texas. Once more the people of Conroe overcame their obstacles. They voted for bonds and paved the streets. Mama said 'What a miracle, Conroe with paved streets,'" according to a passage in the book by Hunt. 

Members of the chamber of commerce thought that was a great phrase and felt compelled to use it in their forthcoming brochures and the motto has lasted the test of time in the city.