Named for Bernardo de Galvez and established in 1839, Galveston measures just over two hundred square miles. In early Texas history, however, it was actually the largest city in the Lone Star State, as well as a hugely important port that would become a strategic target during the Civil War. The Oleander City survived the depredations of war and flourished, a resilience it would also display in the wake of the devastating hurricane of 1900. From early cannibals and pirates to the woman suffrage movement and Nazi POWs, Galveston's amazing story continues to evolve today. Join thirteen of Texas's most noted scholars and historians as they share this remarkable island history.
Along Galveston's Gulf Coast runs a seventeen-foot-high, ten-mile-long protective barrier--a response to the nation's all-time deadliest natural disaster. The seawall remains a stoic protector more than a century later, shielding the island from much more than physical destruction. As the foundation of Seawall Boulevard, this structure created an entirely new tourism industry that buoyed the city's economy through war, the Great Depression and hurricanes. Adapting to the cultural trends and political movements that defined the past century, the seawall represents the unbreakable spirit of Galveston's resilient population and provides a fascinating glimpse into bygone times.
The Civil War history of Galveston is one of the last untold stories from America's bloodiest war, despite the fact that Galveston was a focal point of hostilities throughout the conflict. As other Southern ports fell to the Union, Galveston emerged as one of the Confederacy's only lifelines to the outside world. When the war ended in 1865, Galveston was the only major port still in Confederate hands. In this beautifully written narrative history, Ed Cotham draws upon years of archival and on-site research, as well as rare historical photographs, drawings, and maps, to chronicle the Civil War years in Galveston. His story encompasses all the military engagements that took place in the city and on Galveston Bay, including the dramatic Battle of Galveston, in which Confederate forces retook the city on New Year's Day, 1863. Cotham sets the events in Galveston within the overall conduct of the war, revealing how the city's loss was a great strategic impediment to the North. Through his pages pass major figures of the era, as well as ordinary soldiers, sailors, and citizens of Galveston, whose courage in the face of privation and danger adds an inspiring dimension to the story.
People of African descent were some of Galveston's earliest residents, and although they came to the island enslaved, they retained mastery of their culinary traditions. As Galveston's port prospered and became the "Wall Street of the South," better job opportunities were available for African Americans who lived in Galveston and for those who migrated to the island city after emancipation, with owner-operated restaurants being one of the most popular enterprises. Staples like Fease's Jambalaya Café, Rose's Confectionery and the Squeeze Inn anchored the island community and elevated its cuisine. From Gus Allen's business savvy to Eliza Gipson's oxtail artistry, the Galveston Historical Foundation's African American Heritage Committee has gathered together the stories and recipes that preserve this culinary history for the enjoyment and enrichment of generations, and kitchens, to come.
In 1900, just a few months after the deadly hurricane of September, W. L. Moody Jr. and his family moved into the four-story mansion at the corner of Broadway and Twenty-sixth Street in Galveston. For the next eight decades, the Moody family occupied the 28,000-square-foot home: raising a family, creating memories, building business empires, and contributing their considerable wealth and influence for the betterment of their beloved city. In 1983, Hurricane Alicia damaged the mansion, and Mary Moody Northen, eldest child of W. L. Moody Jr., moved out so a major restoration could begin. When the mansion opened to the public as a museum, education center, and location for community gatherings in 1991, it had been restored to its original grandeur. The Mary Moody Northen Endowment then commissioned award-winning author Henry Wiencek to write a history of the Moodys of Galveston and their celebrated home. Robert L. Moody Sr., grandson of W. L. Moody Jr. and nephew of Mary Moody Northen, contributes a foreword, giving a brief introduction and personal tone to the book, which also features fifteen color photographs of the Moodys and their home. An epilogue by E. Douglas McLeod summarizes the family's accomplishments and developments associated with the mansion since Northen's death in 1986. " The Moodys of Galveston and Their Mansion" is a must-read for Galvestonians, for the thousands of visitors who tour the mansion each year, and for anyone interested in the captivating tale of this influential and generous family and their magnificent house.
In a 1963 novel, Edna Ferber compared the city of Galveston to Miss Havisham, the gray, mournful abandoned bride of Dickens' Great Expectations. A thriving port city in the nineteenth century, Galveston suffered catastrophe in the twentieth as a deadly hurricane and shifting economics dropped a pall over its waterfront and Victorian mansions. Originally conceived as a requiem for the faded city, The Galveston That Was (developed by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and funded by Jean and Dominique de Menil) instead helped resurrect the city. Architect-author Howard Barnstone, renowned portrait photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, and architect-photographer Ezra Stoller captured the soul of the city in The Galveston That Was and as a result, inspired a major and successful effort to restore Galveston's historic architectural treasures. Many of the buildings pictured in the book have since been restored, and the pace of demolition slowed dramatically after the book's initial publication. In 1994, Rice University Press, in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and George and Cynthia Mitchell, published an updated edition of the book. This new printing of the book, now under the Texas A&M University Press imprint, contains the text annotations and updates, plus Peter H. Brink's afterword, that were added to the 1994 edition.
In this witty, thoughtful, and clear-eyed look at a place that has engaged the imaginations and energies of generations of Galvestonians, Texans, and others, writer M. Jimmie Killingsworth and photographer Geoff Winningham reflect on the various Galvestons—virtual and real, natural and artificial—that compete and overlap to create a location, a destination, and the defining experiences associated with “going to Galveston.” From the tepid, still waters and steamy beaches of the Texas Gulf Coast to the computerized, air-conditioned seductions of places like Moody Gardens and the Rainforest Café, Galveston offers a wide array of opportunities for observation of the frequently ironic interplay of human and natural history. Killingsworth’s affectionate, wry prose and Winningham’s distinctive, surprising images offer a unique tribute to Galveston’s past, present, and future: a barrier island that once hosted native peoples, shipwrecked Spaniards, and buccaneers; a birding hotspot that draws nature watchers from all over the world to its estuarine and bay habitats; a hurricane-buffeted city built for tourism, with a storied—sometimes shady—nightlife, a restored historic downtown district, and a trucked-in beach. Going Back to Galveston is a deeply personal meditation on why and how people relate to the places they love. With Killingsworth and Winningham as your guides, explore the multisensory realities: bays and beaches, birding and fishing; grand hotels and Victorian mansions alongside tumbledown docks and sleazy bars; glitzy, modern palaces of recreation and posh eateries competing with fast-food joints and vendors of tourist trinkets. Going Back to Galveston is an excursion you can carry in your hand—one you’ll want to take again and again.
For nearly 200 years, a permanent settlement at the mouth of Galveston Bay has welcomed pirates, sailors, immigrants, and visitors from around the world. As Galveston grew, its buildings were visible signs of the city's prosperity and the talent of its craftsmen. For many, this city was a gateway to America and an inspiration of what other communities in Texas and the Southwest would become. Although Galveston has thousands of historic buildings remaining, many have been lost to the elements and development over the years. Buildings such as the ones found within these pages define the character of our city and its culture.
A local historian recounts nearly seventy years of seduction and scandal along the Texas Gulf Coast in this lively chronicle of Galveston’s notorious past. Known today as a colorful resort destination featuring family entertainment and a thriving arts district, Galveston, Texas, was once notorious for its flourishing vice economy and infamous red-light district. Called simply “The Line,” the unassuming five blocks of Postoffice Street came alive every night with wild parties and generous offerings of love for sale. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, The Line was a stubborn mainstay of the island cityscape until it was finally shut down in the 1950s. But ridding Galveston of prostitution would prove much more difficult than putting a padlock on the front door. In Galveston’s Red Light District, Texas historian Kimber Fountain pursues the sequestered story of women who wanted to make their own rules and the city that wanted to let them.
