Why does this Conroe road have two names? Family histories offer clues

A Conroe road just south of the city’s Loop 336 has two different names for the same road and it turns out both names are correct. 

Crighton Road is between Interstate 45 and FM 1314. East of FM 1314, the spelling changes to Creighton Road which extends east from FM 1314 to Albert Moorehead Road and FM 3083. 

The two spellings represent two different families prominent in early Conroe who were neighbors and owned adjacent land in the area just south of Conroe. 

Here’s what to know about the Crighton and Creighton families and how the road off of Interstate 45 got those names:

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Harry M. Crighton 

Harry Moore Crighton was born Feb. 18, 1885 in Okalona, Mississippi to Alexander and Margaret Crighton. At age 15, he entered the University of Texas and later received a pharmacy degree.

Following his graduation, he came to Conroe to manage the Crighton Pharmacy for the Houston Drug Company, according to a narrative about Crighton provided by the Montgomery County Historical Commission. 

Crighton served as mayor of Conroe from 1934 to 1937 at a time when the city was enjoying the prosperity of the nearby oil boom that took place in 1931 southeast of Conroe. 

He was the inspiration for the Crighton Theatre in downtown Conroe the historic theatre which is still an entertainment venue today. It opened in 1935. 

Larry Foerster, chairman of the Montgomery County Historical Commission, said Crighton was also involved in the oil industry in the 1930s. 

“Crighton Road was originally built in the 1930s by Harry Crighton so that the trucks going to his oil leases around Grangerland in the Conroe oil field could go directly from old Texas 75 to his leases, thus circumventing downtown Conroe,” he said. “The oil field trucks were tearing up the Conroe streets such that automobiles were getting stuck in the muddy truck ruts. So it became Crighton Road.”

In a 2005 Courier report, Rigby Owen Jr. said for a short time in the 1970s, Crighton Road became Grogan Road because the Grogan family owned a sawmill at the corner of I-45 and the road. The road was switched back to Crighton at the request of Frank Guthrie. Guthrie’s wife, Hallie, was the daughter of Harry Crighton.

Crighton and his family moved to San Antonio in 1938. He lived there until his death on Dec. 28, 1948 at age 63.

Conroe mayor Duke Coon grew up in the Conroe oil field area and said the road has been named after the Crighton and Creighton families as long as he could remember. 

He also noted that Crighton Road is within the city of Conroe and Creighton Road is not. 

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Gerald Creighton Sr. 

State Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, said his grandfather Gerald Creighton Sr. and Harry Crighton were neighbors and friends who owned property adjacent to each other south of town in the general area of what is now the Crighton Ridge and River Plantation subdivisions.

The road was known as Crighton Road, but the name changed when it reached the Creighton family’s property and was known as Creighton Road eastward.

Because Gerald Creighton owned a number of timber tracts, Creighton Road continued east to FM 1485. Today, Creighton Road extends to Albert Moorhead Road just west of FM 3083 and Brandon Creighton he takes pride that the family name still marks the roadway. 

“In recent years, more and more people are asking me about the name of the road so people do notice, he said. 

Creighton said there is a fair amount of confusion in the community with the similarity of the names even though the families came from different backgrounds. 

Creighton said his family routinely fielded phone calls about the Crighton Theatre. 

“We used to keep a schedule handy because it was easier to give people the show times than try and explain why this wasn’t the Creighton Theatre,” he said. 

Gerald Creighton Sr. died in 1966 at age 66 and is buried in Conroe. Foerster said his son, Gerald Creighton Jr., was a highly regarded Conroe lawyer, was on the Conroe ISD school board and was a respected community leader. Creighton Elementary in Conroe ISD is named in his honor. 

Creighton Jr., Brandon’s uncle, died in September 2014 at age 83. 

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