When Conroe High School students arrive to start the new school year Wednesday morning, they’ll find the campus looks different from when they left May 25.
Over the summer, the Annex building, Vocational building and Agriculture building at the back of the campus were demolished. Those classes will move into a new wing that was vacated by the orchestra and music programs.
ON YOURCONROENEWS.COM: Hundreds of homes coming to Conroe as part of new residential development
The changes are a part of ongoing construction at the nearly 60-year-old building to bring added safety on campus and move the main entrance from busy Texas 105 to Wilson Road. A new gym will open on Wilson Road this school year as well.
The start of the campus
In the 1960s, with the extension of Interstate 45 through Conroe, the coming of Lake Conroe and the opening of what is now George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the city experienced an influx of new residents.
Crockett High School which served as Conroe’s high school was on Thompson Street just north of the downtown square was no longer adequate to meet the needs of the community.
A larger school meant for 1,000 students opened in 1964 on the western end of town on Texas 105 and was at the time regarded as “one of the biggest high schools in Texas.”
Sandy Apostolo, a 1964 Conroe graduate and member of the first class to graduate from the school, said that the townspeople thought the new school was “in the country” as only trees surrounded the building at the time and town stopped at I-45.
“As they were preparing to open the new school, I remember we packed up library books on the school buses and helped take them over to the new school,” she said.
She said it was a treat for the students as she said everything was clean and smelled new and they had so much more room.
“To us it was like a palace. Everything was new and it had air conditioning. After having gone through Sam Houston Travis and Crockett all of which could count their age in decades, it was so nice to see furniture and fixtures that looked like 1960s,” said Robert Ray from the Class of 1965.
Expanding almost immediately
With continued growth at the campus, not long after it opened, more classroom space was needed and new halls were added on in 1969 and 1970. At the center of the school, students can see the original brick wall that was once the edge of the building.
Swanette Smith is celebrating her 50th year on campus in 2023.
“I never would have imagined I would still be here 50 years later, I never planned for that. But I love it,” she said. She retired from teaching Spanish in 2010, but serves as a substitute now.
In 1973, the Freshman Annex was built and Smith was a part of a new wave of teachers hired to fill the annex.
ON YOURCONROENEWS.COM: Conroe restaurants that are closing and coming soon, including Gringo’s, Walk On’s Sports Bistreaux
“From the start, the colors were atrocious. It was before it became popular for the colors of the school to be used, so there were various shades of blue. Its nickname was the aquarium or fish bowl,” she said.
In homecoming competitions among the classes, the freshman played on that theme decorating their building in an aquarium fashion.
“This Freshman Annex was a way for the ninth graders to be a little isolated for their start in high school so they’d have a good start,” Smith said. “Most of their classes were in this building and the ninth-grade teachers were so good about wrapping their arms around these kids.”
Smith said the annex, vocational and agriculture buildings were used up until May.
Through bond measures, more additions to the campus came in 2004, 2015 and 2019. Eventually the freshman were moved to a nearby Conroe High 9th Grade Campus at the former Peet Junior High.
Building for the future
In 2021, Conroe ISD launched a $145 million makeover for the campus.
Prior to renovations at the school, there were seven buildings on campus with 120 exterior doors and for the 2022-23 school year, there were just under 5,000 students including the freshman class.
By the end of the project which could come in 2024 or 2025, all of Conroe High School will be under one roof and the main entrance will be facing the opposite direction on Wilson Road.
At the back of campus, a band hall will be built as well as tennis courts.
Katie Shanahan Schneider attended Conroe High School from 1990 to 1994. This May her daughter will graduate from Conroe High 30 years after she did.
“Buildings may be gone, and the school looks different, but the Tiger pride and Tiger spirit lives on,” she said. “I still smile and reminisce walking the halls of my alma mater. I am very proud that my children are Conroe Tigers and future graduates. Once a tiger, always a tiger.”
For more on Conroe High School visit the school’s website.
