Montgomery County
Historical Commission
"Birthplace of the Lone Star Flag"
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Videos from around Montgomery County
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Restoration of the Turner Family Monument
Mary McCoy 'Elvis & Living Her Dream'
Miracle City Moments: How the Courthouse Came to Conroe
Texas Centennial Snapshots (1936)
This film from the Orris D. Brown Collection documents notable locations, battles, and citizens that tell the story of early Texas at the time of its centennial in 1936. Intertittled to introduce each place and its significance, footage is included of statues of La Salle and Sam Houston, the Spanish Governor's Palace and the Alamo in San Antonio, the Battle of Gonzales battlefield, the site of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Sam Houston's homes in Independence, Texas and Huntsville, Texas, and the graves of the Houston family. Most notably, footage of Sam Houston's slave and personal servant, Uncle Jeff Hamilton, is also included. The digital preservation of this film was made possible by a grant to the Texas Archive of the Moving Image and the Houston Public Library from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.
Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church- Conroe (1970)
This home movie captures scenes of the congregation of Mt. Horem Baptist Church traveling by bus to Conroe, Texas for what seems to be a joint service with Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church. Children put on robes for a choir performance and a potluck dinner takes place.
Cut and Shoot Fast Draw (1980)
Broadcast on August 21, 1980, this episode of PM Magazine features profiles of quick-draw champions Diane and Bob Graham and economist Howard Ruff. PM Magazine Departments also offer gardening tips, a warning about refined sugar, and a recommendation for a local take-out restaurant. PM Magazine was a local news and entertainment television program broadcast on Beaumont's KFDM-TV in from late 1970s to the mid-1980s.
Sam Houston Trail Ride & 1964 World's Fair
This 1964 home movie first captures the Sam Houston Trail Ride, an all-horse parade that travels the trail roads from Montgomery into Houston to kick off the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the largest livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world, now averaging over two million attendees annually. Later, the Rairigh family journeys to New York City for the 1964 World's Fair, where they see DuPont's "Wonderful World of Chemistry." The film concludes with the Rairighs back home in Beaumont to celebrate Christmas.
Trail Ride in Montgomery (1958)
This home movie, shot by former member of the Texas House of Representatives Harold H. "Hal" Coley, captures a trail ride in Conroe. Participants dressed in Western attire ride horses or atop covered wagons. Later, the Coley family tours their new lake house.
Explosion Starts Oil Fire (1933) Conroe
"Remarkable pictures of a burning gusher that shakes houses seven miles away when it ‘goes up' and which defies all attempts to quench its roaring flames." [From original Universal Newsreel content sheet.] This Universal Newsreel contains dramatic footage of an oil well fire near Conroe, Texas. Men approach the blaze behind protective shields and a crane pours dirt over the flames. Conroe, Texas, like many East Texas towns, enjoyed an oil boom in the 1930s. This newsreel is believed to depict the Conroe well fires of 1933. Two wells a mile apart, the Standard of Kansas No. 1 Madeley and the Southland Oil No. 2 Cummings, both burst into flame the morning of January 12th. The Madeley was particularly difficult to get under control, with nitroglycerine blasts and dirt fill proving unsuccessful. The well cratered, swallowing the derrick and other nearby rigs, resulting in huge damages. After drilling many relief wells, the fires were eventually brought under control, but had created a large oil-filled "crater well" in the Conroe oilfield.
