The county boasts a rich history dating back the 1800s and is very much a part of state history as well, with the designer of the Texas flag, Dr. Charles B. Stewart residing in the historic town of Montgomery and taking part in the state’s formation. Sam Houston spent time in Montgomery as well and in the early 1930s, George Strake put Conroe on the map by discovering oil in the southeast quadrant of the county.

And in the mid-1980s, some long-time residents of Montgomery County thought it was about time that the county’s history was celebrated and put on display.

Historian Gertie Spencer was on the board of the Chamber of Commerce in 1984, and several of the chamber members wondered why Montgomery County didn’t have its own history museum.

Spencer, along with Steven McClain, Willie Whitehead and several others, formed a committee and set out to investigate the possibility of forming a museum.

Spencer and the other members presented the idea to area organizations to see what people thought.

“We found a savior in the Conroe Service League,” Spencer said.

The members of the ladies service organization took up the cause for the museum quite passionately and along with Spencer and others on the museum committee, they traveled the state in small groups looking at what other Texas towns had done.

A fundraising gala was held by the Service League that brought in $60,000 for the formation of the museum. The Montgomery County Historical Commission donated a sizeable amount to get the museum off its feet as well.

With the funds raised, then there was the issue of where would they house this museum and where would it go?

Planners had their hearts set on the old Train Depot next to the tracks at Pacific Ave. and First Street. Then tragedy struck when it burned beyond repair in the mid-1980s.

“When the depot burned, that really took the wind out of our sails,” Spencer said.

But, soon after, Carolyn, Andy and Andrew Walker donated “The Cochran Home” for use as the Heritage Museum.

Courtesy The Heritage Museum of Montgomery County
The Heritage Museum as it looks today in
Candy Cane Park(2015)

The house was built by J. G. Grogan Sr. for his family in 1924. However, his first wife died soon after and he moved his family to Magnolia. The home was sold several times through family ties eventually being purchased by Virgil and Lucille Taylor Cochran making it “The Cochran Home.”

Their eight children and 22 grandchildren have memories of playing, swinging or sitting on the front porch and watching parades go by on Thompson street. The home’s original location was on the corner of Thompson and Nugent streets. Many weddings, funerals, arrivals of babies and holiday dinners were celebrated in the home.

Carolyn Meadows Walker, the great-granddaughter of Laura Grogan and Terrell Mack Cochran was the final owner of the home and lived there for 10 years with her family, Andy and Andrew Walker, before donating the house to the museum.

The next problem was how to get the house to the property in Candy Cane Park that the city had donated.

The moving job was taken on by Floyd Baker, who was the go-to house mover in town at the time.

JoCarol Oberman, past president of the Heritage Museum Board, recalls the moving of the house took place in the fall of 1985 and took the better part of a day.

The home was split in two to be moved and the highest part of the roof was taken off.

Oberman remembered it was quite a spectacle that day in town as roads had to be closed and power lines lifted.

She brought her young sons out to see the event.

Once the home was in place, it took much updating to bring the residential home up to code as a commercial venue.

Oberman said it was a labor of love for the ladies of the service league.

“There wasn’t a time when you couldn’t find volunteers or board members or service league members working on the house,” Spencer said.

While the grand opening for the museum was held in May 1986, filling the museum took a little while.

At first they had traveling exhibits and the first permanent exhibit was put together by Elva Wilson and Mary Spencer.

It was a replica of Dr. Charles B. Stewart’s office.

Eventually the museum was filled with 95 percent of the artifacts and documents coming from local families, according to Spencer.

Morris Bateman, a longtime employee of the telephone company donated a old-fashioned switchboard, the Gentry family donated a case of artifacts and important documents came from an unexpected donation from the Griffin Abstract collection. One early document had a signature from Stephen F. Austin.