Presswood

New Caney, also known as Presswood, is on the Southern Pacific line at the junction of Farm Road 1485 and State Highway Loop 494, seventeen miles southeast of Conroe in southeastern Montgomery County. The community was founded in the 1860s and in its early years was known as Presswood, for pioneers Austin and Sarah Waters Presswood, who settled in the area in 1862 and raised cattle on the open range. Other early settlers included the John Wesley Robinson family, who farmed and raised cattle and who also built a gristmill, steam cotton gin, and general store on Caney Creek. In 1877 or 1878 the Houston, East and West Texas Railway reached the town. Cattle-loading pens were set up, and the community became a shipping point for livestock. The station was called Caney Station, after the dense canebrakes on Caney Creek. The town grew, and in 1882 a post office was established under the name New Caney; James B. Robinson, the first postmaster, had petitioned for the name Caney, but there was already a Texas town with that name, so the post office department called the new post office New Caney.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.