The barrier island on which Galveston stands had long been used by Indians when Europeans first settled around 1816.  Jose de Evia had mapping the coast in 1786 and he named the bay behind the barrier island Galveston Bay after Spanish colonial governor Bernardo de Gálvez. In 1825 a port was established on the island and it was given the name Galveston Port. The town of Galveston was founded in 1836 and it briefly served as the capital of the newly founded Texas Republic. The natural harbour of Galveston Bay made the town a major trading centre and from the mid 19th century it grew rapidly to become the largest city in Texas and one of the busiest ports in the USA. All of this changed in September 1990 when a Category 4 hurricane ripped through Galveston accompanied by a 4.5 metre (15 foot) storm surge. Vast areas were flooded, many buildings were destroyed and an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 people died. Galveston never fully recovered from this disaster. Realising that the city was vulnerable to another hurricane, it was decided to build a massive sea wall and to raise the level of the city by up to 5 metres (17 feet). This took time and it allowed Houston to overtake Galveston just at the time when the oil boom was starting.  When rebuilding was complete, Galveston became popular as a tourist destination, particularly during the prohibition era, but after World War II the city stagnated. In 2008 Hurricane Ike hit the city, flooding it via sewers and the unprotected bay side. When we visited in 2011 the city was still recovering from Ike.

View east along The Strand

After the 1900 hurricane Galveston had to focus on getting its badly damaged business centre working again. The main commercial centre was Avenue B, which a local German Jeweller had rechristened The Strand after the thoroughfare in London. Many buildings along The Strand were seriously damaged in the hurricane, forcing businesses to relocate further inland. The businesses did not return, instead The Strand became an extension of the warehouse district of the port. In 1914 dredging of Buffalo Bayou was completed, creating the Houston Ship Canal, a channel deep enough to allow large ships to dock at Houston. This took business away from Galveston Port leaving The Strand stagnating with its buildings falling into disrepair. In the 1960s work started to restore two of the buildings in the area, and this raised awareness of the dilapidated state of The Strand. In 1973 the Galveston Historical Foundation set up a fund to restore buildings in The Strand and adjoining streets, thereby creating the Strand Historic District.  A ‘heritage’ trolley system opened in 1988, using diesel powered replicas of historic trolley cars. Sadly, the trolley system was badly damaged in 2008 by Hurricane Ike and it remained out of service when we visited in 2011. The City Council voted in 2015 to bring back the trolley service, renovation of the cars has begun and the service may resume by summer 2018. Meantime a temporary service has been introduced using San Francisco Cable Car-style Trolley Buses.    

Bishop's Palace

Attorney and entrepreneur Colonel Walter Gresham arrived in Galveston after the Civil War. In 1886 he engaged Nicholas Clayton to design mansion for him on a relatively small plot on Broadway. The resultant building is described as Chateausque in style, a Victorian interpretation of a French Chateau. In 1892 the mansion was completed and Gresham moved in with his wife Josephine and their nine children. Because it was built from steel and stone it survived the 1900 Hurricane virtually unscathed.  Walter Gresham died in 1920 and the mansion was sold in 1923 to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galveston, who used it as the residence of Bishop Christopher E. Byrne and it became known as the Bishop’s Palace. After the offices of the diocese moved to Houston, the Catholic Church opened the mansion to the public in 1963. In 2013 the Bishop’s Palace was sold to Galveston Historical Foundation who have been restoring it while continuing to open it to the public.

Galveston

Click on Minimap to navigate

Home > US States > The Southwest > Texas >

To move forwards or backwards through the Texas  trail click the arrows above, or select your next destination on the Minimap.

DLU170829

Barque 'Elissa', Texas Seaport Museum

The seafaring history of Galveston is celebrated at the Texas Seaport Museum. The centrepiece of the museum is the 1877 sailing barque ‘Elissa’. She was built in Aberdeen in Scotland and spend 90 years carrying freight all around the world. She was rescued from a scrap yard in Pireus, Greece and has been restored to full working order. Each year she is sailed in the Gulf of Mexico, but she spends most of her time as an exhibit at the museum. Click Tab 2 to see the Saloon of the Barque 'Elissa'

Moody Mansion

Richard S. Willis may have been a wealthy cotton broker but he was not one to live in a grand mansion. His wife Narcissa repeatedly asked him to build a mansion, but he refused. Richard Willis died in 1892, and Narcissa promtly had their house demolished and work started on her grand Romanesque style mansion, which was completed in 1895. Her adult children were not impressed, they refused to visit her in the mansion and after she died in 1899 they put the mansion up for auction. Many bidders pulled out after the September 1900 hurricane, and banker William Lewis Moody, Jr got it for a knock down price. The mansion had not suffered serious damage in the hurricane and the Moody family were able to move in before Christmas. The house remained in the Moody family until 1986. The Moody Mansion is now a historic house museum open to the public.

Galveston Harbor from Texas Seaport Museum

While the 1900 hurricane handed Houston the role of oil capital of the USA, , the Galveston area has seen some benefit from the industry. Pelican Island forms part of the city of Galveston. It is separated from the downtown area by Galveston Channel but there is a causeway connecting the island to Galveston. On the island a shipyard services vessels and rigs for the oil industry. The island is also the home of Texas A&M University at Galveston.

Hotel Galvez from Seawall Boulevard

The tourist potential of Galveston’s Gulf of Mexico waterfront was recognised in 1882 when the huge Beach Hotel was built. In 1898 a mysterious fire destroyed the entire wood frame hotel in just 25 minutes. City leaders immediately started planning a new hotel on the site to draw tourists to the area, and the 1900 hurricane made this an urgent priority. The Galvez Hotel opened its doors in June 1911. William Lewis Moody, Jr (of Moody Mansion) acquired the hotel in 1940, but the building was requisitioned for wartime use by the US Coastguard and was closed to guests. The hotel thrived after the war when Galveston was a popular destination for illegal gambling but this ended in the mid 1950s when Texas Rangers clamped down on gambling. The hotel survived the downturn that followed and it survived Hurricane Ike although it lost some roof tiles and the basement was flooded. Now known as the Hotel Galvez and Spa, it is a luxury hotel in the Wyndham Grand group.

St Joseph's Church

On the corner of Avenue K and 22nd Street stands the oldest wooden church in Galveston. It was built in 1859 to serve German speaking Catholics living in the city. The church was damaged during the 1900 hurricane, but was repaired and extended while retaining its original design. It closed as a church in 1968 and was destined to be used for storage. but the Galveston Historical Foundation stepped in to save it. They have restored the church and it is open to the public on special occasions.

© Mike  Elsden 1981 - 2025

The contents of this page may not be reproduced in full or in part without permission