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Town of
Willis
Montgomery County Texas
Be sure to check out the links at the bottom of the page for more history and genealogy of the people and places in Willis Texas.
Map of Town of Willis 1874
WILLIS, TEXAS.
Willis, a lumbering and agricultural market town, is on the Missouri
Pacific Railroad eight miles north of Conroe in north central Montgomery
County. In 1870, as the Houston and Great Northern Railroad began
surveying Montgomery County's first rail line, Galveston merchants Peter
J. and Richard S. Willis, landholders in Montgomery County, donated a
townsite to the railroad along the proposed route. By that time a number
of black farmers in the vicinity had already organized a Methodist
congregation, which became the first church in the community of Willis. By
1872 the rail line had been extended through the town, and most of the
businesses and residents of Danville, Montgomery, and Old Waverly had
begun moving to the new town. That same year, a post office was
established and a white Baptist congregation was organized. In 1874
citizens of the burgeoning new community launched a prolonged but
unsuccessful struggle to transfer the county seat from rival Montgomery to
Willis. A weekly newspaper, the Willis Observer, began publication
as early as 1875. By the late 1870s Willis had become a prosperous
shipping point for timber and agricultural commodities and a center for
the manufacture of lumber products, wagons, and agricultural implements.
In 1879 the town's first white Methodist church was constructed. In the
early 1880s a three-story building was erected to house the Willis Male
and Female College which, until its demise in 1901, functioned as a
semi-private boarding school for students in elementary grades through
college.
By 1884, in addition
to its various schools and churches, Willis boasted several steam-powered
saw and grist mills, two cotton gins, a brickyard, a saloon and gambling
house, a Grange hall, numerous grocery and dry-goods stores, and a
population of 600. In 1888 the town's first Church of Christ was
constructed. By 1890 population had climbed to 700, and three hotels and a
second weekly newspaper, the Willis Index, were in operation.
During the late nineteenth century the Willis area became the leading
tobacco growing region in the state; before the lifting of the tariff on
Cuban tobacco killed the boom in the early twentieth century, Willis
supported as many as seven cigar factories. As tobacco culture declined, a
boom in the production of timber and agricultural products kept the town's
economy thriving. Although population fell somewhat to an estimated 500 in
1892, by 1904 it had leaped to an estimated 832 and continued to climb
slowly for the next two decades. The Willis State Bank was established in
1911. In 1913 there were 271 pupils enrolled in the Willis Independent
School District. By 1914 yet another weekly newspaper, the Willis Star,
had appeared, and a telephone exchange was in operation.
The town's growth
came to a temporary halt, however, with the onset of the Great Depression
and the resulting slump in local timber production. From an estimated 900
in 1929, population fell to an estimated 750 by 1931. But an oil boom in
central Montgomery County that began southeast of Conroe in 1931 soon
spread its effects to the Willis area, bringing renewed economic activity
and an influx of population. Further stimulus was provided by the
completion of U.S. Highway 75 through the town in the early 1930s. Then,
during World War II, the lumber industry and agricultural activity
revived. By 1933 the town's population had climbed again to an estimated
900, but it remained at this level for more than three decades, standing
at an estimated 891 in 1968. The extension of Interstate Highway 45
through Willis in the early 1960s helped integrate the community into a
regional economy and provided a corridor through which both industrial and
suburban development could penetrate the area. Finally, in the late 1960s
and early 1970s, Willis's growth resumed as construction of Lake Conroe
began five miles to the west on the West Fork of the San Jacinto River.
Population jumped to an estimated 1,457 in 1970, then increased slowly for
a decade and a half before another growth spurt began in the 1980s. The
Willis area was at last benefiting from the spillover effects of the
postwar booms of Houston and Conroe, but the economy remained based on
lumbering and agriculture. By 1981 1,850 students were enrolled at the
four campuses of the Willis Independent School District. From an estimated
1,674 in 1986, Willis's population climbed to an estimated 2,110 in 1990,
and by 1992 the figure had grown to an estimated 2764.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: The
Choir Invisible: An Early History of Montgomery County (Montgomery,
Texas: Montgomery Historical Society). Robin Navarro Montgomery, The
History of Montgomery County (Austin: Jenkins, 1975). Montgomery
County Genealogical Society, Montgomery County History
(Winston-Salem, North Carolina: Hunter, 1981).
Charles Christopher Jackson
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Excerpts from “A History of Montgomery County, Texas” Chapter V, Cities,
Towns, and Communities,
by William Harley Gandy”: For Sources, see
Endnotes:
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Willis
came into being as one of the towns of Montgomery County in 1870. It was
named Willis by the Houston and Great Northern Railroad, the predecessor of
the International and Great Northern. The town was called Willis in honor of
the Willis brothers, Peter J. and Richard S. , who had been citizens of
Montgomery and were at that time owners of the P. J. Willis and Brothers
firm in Galveston. The Willis brothers had rather large land holdings and
timber interests near the townsite; therefore, they deeded to the Houston
and Great Northern Railroad a place for a townsite along the railroad.40
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Construction for Montgomery County's first railroad was completed in 1872.
When the trains began to move on the new railroad, Willis began to prosper.
Most of the business houses from Danville and many residents moved to the
new town near the railroad. Others from Montgomery and Old Waverly also
located in the new town.41 |
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By
1873 the population of the town had grown so much that an agitation to move
the county seat to Willis was begun; then on September 7, 1874 a called
election was held and Willis by a majority of one hundred and forty-two
votes was chosen as the county seat.42 |
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In
1875 the Willis Observer, a newspaper in the town, gave an account of
the town's merchants and the newly organized Grange. The article explained
as follows: |
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... The merchants of this place have good stocks on hand, and are selling
more goods than we thought could be sold these hard times. They sell
principally for the cash –though some little "trusting business."
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The "Grangers" are doing very well here, and are increasing in number
every meeting. They have opened in this place a Grange store, upon a small
scale, which is destined to become of great benefit to the farmers; we are
told that its effect is being felt already. The Store is under the
management of Col. Israel Worsham kept in the building occupied by F. J.
Williams…43
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In
the same paper an advertisement gave the tuition rates for the newly
organized Willis Male and Female College. The advertisement stated that
Willis was instituted for males and females and that the exercises for the
institution were resumed August 1, 1875 and that they would continue for ten
months. Tuition rates were two dollars and five dollars a month; a student
taking music was charged five dollars extra. The expense of the student,
including board, need not exceed one hundred seventy-five dollars for the
entire season.44 |
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The Willis Male and
Female College plant consisted of three buildings, the main building, dining
room and kitchen, and one other building. The third floor of the main
building was used for laboratories and rooms for boarding students, and at
one time housed the dining room and kitchen. At one time there were about
two hundred fifty students who boarded in the college and in several houses
located on the street to the west of the grounds and in nearby homes or
boarding houses. The curriculum of the college provided for the study of
ancient languages, history, mathematics, literature, science, vocal and
instrumental music, art, and physical culture. The administrators of the
college were Reverend S. N. Barker and wife, George W. Stovall, F. P. Crowe,
J. A. Kooken, John W. Hoke, M. A. Kline, and Cyril M. Jansky.45 |
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A
practice at one time of the college was that at a certain hour each week day
evening the janitor of the main building would ring a bell which was in a
cupola atop the building. The ringing of the college bell was the signal for
all boarding students to retire to the study hall of the college for
supervised study of two or three hours and those in the homes and the
out-in-town boarding houses were supposed to go to their respective study
tables and study for a like period of time. 46 |
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By
1886 Willis had the requisite number of inhabitants to incorporate as a
town. Upon a petition of forty-nine resident citizens asking for an election
to be held to incorporate the town, the County Judge declared an election to
be held in the town of Willis at the Market House of R. B. Roach on March
16, 1886. The election was held and by a majority vote of fourteen, the
citizens voted against incorporation.47 |
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Willis continued to
grow rapidly, because in the 1890 census it had almost as many people as its
rival town, Montgomery –832 and 921 respectively. 48 |
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In
the 1890's Willis had a building boom. Many new stores and residents were
constructed. Some of the places of business there at the time were T. W.
Smith's General Merchandise, Carson and McKibbin General Store, Sandel's
Store, Powell and Walker's Drug, Leslie's Brick Yard, First and Last Chance
Saloon, and Pearl Saloon. An opera house was constructed by T. W. Smith in
1893. The local newspaper wrote the following about its construction: |
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Through the
courtesy of its owner, Capt. T.
W. Smith, an Index
representative, was shown through the neat and attractive public hall and
Thespian temple, which he has recently had fitted up in the second story of
the Caldwell building, at the end of Stewart street. The interior is
handsomely painted and comfortably seated with benches of an improved
pattern, thereby insuring the unstinted praise of all who may patronize it.
The stage is of modern design, and a handsome drop curtain and scenic
appurtenances of a suitable character will soon arrive and be put in place.
The room on the south side of the building answers most admirably as a
dressing boudoir, without encroaching upon the space of the main hall, and
an additional seating capacity is the result. Some kind of an entertainment
will probably be given upon its completion, in order that the citizens of
Willis may be formally introduced to what they have long sadly missed–a
pleasant and an attractive public hall.49 |
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Willis attracted much attention around 1895 because of the tobacco industry
started there. In the latter 1890's Willis had developed this industry so
well that it became a very much advertised little town. Fine grades of
tobacco were grown in the vicinity and T. W. Smith and son, Gwen Smith,
encouraged the industry by building a large brick cigar factory and employed
more than one hundred men and women to roll the tobacco into cigars. At its
peak Willis boasted of seven cigar factories. A large number of big tobacco
buyers from the various eastern points would come to Willis each season to
buy their tobacco. They claimed that the Willis tobacco had a flavor that
could not be found elsewhere. The farmers grew the celebrated "Vuelta Abago"
variety of Cuban tobacco and they sent to Cuba each year for fresh seed.50 |
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The
tobacco industry was very successful at Willis until the United States
Congress lifted the tariff on Cuban tobacco, which had a very devastating
effect on the industry at Willis, due to the fact that Cuba, with cheaper
labor, could raise tobacco more cheaply than Willis. |
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Owen
Smith, owner of one of the cigar factories, told a local citizen that the
reason the cigar factories closed was because the Cuban employees who worked
them wanted to forma union. The union activities were squelched by the
employers and thus making the Cubans angry they rolled up gun powder and
asafetida in the next shipment of cigars. When the reports came in from the
buyers the tobacco industry ceased to exist in Willis.51
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After the tobacco
industry faded away the lumber industry appeared in Willis to keep it alive.
Today, it has several sawmills and planers that employs much of its
population and is the main source of its wealth.
It is a quite respectable
little village with about nine hundred people who go about their daily tasks
while they think of the days when someone styled their town as the "Athens
of Montgomery County."52
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Willis
From a Traveler's Guide to Historic
Montgomery County
1836-1986, Texas Sesquicentennial Edition
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The township of Willis
was founded in 1870. Peter J. and Richard S. Willis donated the land to
the Houston and Great Northern Railroad. The Willis Brothers were large
land and timber owners who were former merchants in the area. |
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With the railroad
came prosperity, in a few short years Willis became one of the leading
towns in the county. It boasted a college, an opera house, numerous
stores, hotels, and a cotton and tobacco industry. In 1874 Willis and
Montgomery vied for the county seat. Both towns eventually lost to Conroe. |
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By 1875 Willis had
vast tobacco fields supporting seven cigar factories. Some of the finest
grades of tobacco known in the world were grown here. Tobacco grown near
Willis received first prize at the Colombian World's Exposition at Chicago
in 1893 and at Paris, France in 1900. Types of tobacco grown in Willis
included the celebrated Sumatra and the world famous varieties from Abajo
District of Cuba. This industry faded when tariff laws on Cuban tobaccos
were lifted. |
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Through the 1960s
and 1970s Willis was mainly an agricultural area. The main industry was
timber and livestock. In the late 1970s and early 1980s Willis began to
see a trend toward manufacturing and high technology. Since Willis is
surrounded by Lake Conroe there has been a noticeable growth in
population. |
Willis home of Oldest African American Church
in Montgomery County
Willis History from Town of Willis
Texas
Willis Texas TimeLine From Town of
Willis Texas |
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| Morgan Dollar | Anna Willes Williams |
| Willis Centennial 1870-1980 |
Willis 125 Years |
| Willis Centennial Brings Memories to Mrs. Scott |
| Willis Brothers Letters |
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