‘It’s so important to remember and honor our history’: Nonprofit works to restore historic Conroe College
By Ceili Doyle
November 25, 2024
Photographer: Lexi Parra/Houston Landing
Credit: Houston Landing - Essential journalism. Empowered communities.
Link: Montgomery County nonprofit tries to save Conroe College
November 25, 2024
Photographer: Lexi Parra/Houston Landing
Credit: Houston Landing - Essential journalism. Empowered communities.
Link: Montgomery County nonprofit tries to save Conroe College
Brother Jimmy R. Johnson poses for a portrait outside Conroe College, Thursday, November 14, 2024, in Conroe. Conroe College used to be a vital community and education space that has fallen into disarray. (Lexi Parra/Houston Landing)
Standing inside the remains of Conroe College, it’s hard to imagine it once stood as the pillar of Montgomery County’s Black education, theology and community.
For over a century, the African-American institution beckoned hundreds of aspiring scholars, ministers, musicians and residents through its doors. It was also the home of Valentine’s Day parties, poetry slams and Juneteenth celebrations.
Today, the college is on the precipice of collapse. The ceiling appears on the verge of caving in, mildewing hardcovers, yellowed copies of “The Good Word” and midcentury fourth-grade language arts sets are long abandoned.
“It’s a landmark,” said Pastor William Denman, who graduated from Conroe College in 1990. “It’s a historical landmark, and it needs to be known and shown.”
Preserving the college’s legacy and repurposing the remaining 20 acres of campus is the inspiration behind the Conroe College Reimagined Foundation, a newly established nonprofit organization dedicated to raising money to purchase and restore Conroe College back to its former glory.
The college deteriorated from mismanaged finances and with the availability of other higher education options. The institution shuttered its doors in 2011, and three years later, was sold to Dale Weeby, a real estate investor from The Woodlands.
The organization recently received 501(c)3 status, enabling it to receive tax-deductible donations to buy back and preserve the college.
“Young people accuse you of trying to live in the past,” John Meredith, treasurer of the foundation, said. “But it is so important to remember and honor our history.”
Meredith, 74, said members of Conroe’s African-American community, like Jimmy Johnson, a former preacher at East Side Church of Christ who taught at Conroe College in the late 1990s, understand the value of preserving legacy.
“A lot of Conroe’s Black history is gone,” Johnson said. “And you lose that pride, you lose that self-pride and our youngsters grow up knowing only what they see or get from TV … if we’re not aware, if we’re not cautious … we’ll go backwards rather than going forwards.”
Black education in the shadow of slavery
At the turn of the 19th century, segregation severely limited Black Texans’ access to education.
Dr. Jimmie Johnson (no relation to Jimmy Johnson) and his wife Chaney witnessed how much the Black community in Montgomery County — and throughout Texas — desperately needed an educational center.
The couple dedicated years toward fundraising for a new school based in Conroe, even selling their own farm to help costs.
In April 1903, less than 40 years after the Civil War ended, they opened the Conroe Normal and Industrial College with the goal of educating African-Americans to “reflect Christian principles of hard work, modesty and setting a good example for black and white alike,” according to historical archives.
In the early years, the college offered students a robust course load: Latin, theology, English, algebra, chemistry, music, arts, food service, along with vocational and agricultural training. But above all else, Christian education remained at the heart of the college.
Denman grew up during the Jim Crow era as the youngest of 11 children and remembers sneaking a sip out of the “whites only” water fountain in downtown Conroe as a 6-year-old.
He witnessed firsthand how racism affected his family financially. His mother only made $15 a week cleaning houses. At 11-years-old, Denman took up caddying at the Conroe Country Club in order to buy clothes at JC Penney for school.
The 76-year-old reverend worked as a postman for 27 years before he was called into faith by God.
“I didn’t retire,” he added. “The Lord told me to quit.”
Denman enrolled in Conroe College, known as Conroe Bible College or the Conroe Baptist Theological Institute, according to varying accounts, and took three-hour long courses on Mondays and Wednesdays, learning from generations of pastors who trained at the college.
“I followed a dream I knew nothing about, but I grew spiritually through the college,” Denman said, who after graduating, started his own congregation, Temple of Faith, in 1997.
Jimmy Johnson, the former preacher, only taught at the college for a few months because his program’s funding was cut. As the decades wore on, funding became less reliable. In an undated Houston Chronicle article, former Conroe College president Rev. P.S. Walker said success of the early 1900’s was “long past.”
“The college survives on the strength of alumni who volunteer their time to teach religious classes in addition to funding of the religious program and staff by the 250,000 member American Baptist Convention of Texas, headquartered in Houston,” Walker told the Chronicle.
However, the college remained a staple of the Black community’s social events. Johnson recalled how he would DJ wedding receptions, parties and anniversaries and photograph the community during the annual Black history parade at Conroe College.
“One way or the other, I was either takin’ pictures or spinning records,” Johnson said. “It’s great memories.”
Reimaging Conroe College
Meredith hopes stories about Johnson and Denman’s experiences at Conroe College will inspire donors to invest in this project. “That’s what captures people’s imaginations,” he said.
The Montgomery County resident has been heavily involved in the restoration of the long-neglected historic Black cemetery that sits adjacent to the college. He also successfully advocated for Conroe Independent School District to name its newest elementary school building after Mittie J. Turner Campbell, the district’s first Black female principal.
Meredith and Larry Foerster, chair of the Montgomery County Historical Commission, hope the college can be repurposed as an African-American history museum, a community and entertainment center, a park or some combination of all of the above.
“The college was a central point for our community,” Johnson said. “It was a central point where everybody could get together for a large event whether it was a religious event or as a church convention.”
On a bright, sunny morning in mid-November, Johnson stepped inside the darkened halls of the Calhoun-Edwards Administration Building, the last structure standing on Conroe College’s campus.
He gestured at the stage that once overlooked the very same folks Johnson captured through his camera’s lens, usually decked out in their Sunday best, posing next to holiday decorations or twirling across the dance floor.
“Lotsa dancing out here!” Johnson recalled.
With any luck, there will be plenty more.
People perform during an event at Conroe College in the 1980's. (Photo courtesy of John Meredith)
Books sit in the library, Thursday, November 14, 2024, in Conroe Conroe College used to be a vital community and education space that has fallen into disarray. (Lexi Parra/Houston Landing)
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Pastor William Denman poses for a portrait at Honor Cafe, Thursday, November 14, 2024, In Conroe. Denman received his education that led him to become a pastor at Conroe College. (Lexi Parra/Houston Landing)
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