Galveston's Stormy Beginnings

Galveston lies in the southeastern-most corner of the giant state of Texas. It is situated on Galveston Island, which is located approximately 2 miles off the Texas mainland. Galveston Island is 32 miles long and the city of Galveston occupies nearly all of it. Compared to other Texas cities, Galveston’s beginnings were unique and its history, at times, turbulent.

Historical records indicate that when the first Europeans arrived on Galveston Island they were met by the Karankawa Indians who camped, fished and hunted the swampy land. The first accounts of the Karankawas was documented by the Spanish explorer, Cabeza de Vaca, when he was stranded on Malhado island, located just west of Galveston Island in 1528. Cabeza’s expedition had ended tragically when his ship wrecked just off the island’s coast. Cabeza and the survivors made their way in two small boats to the safety of land, and the territory of the Karankawas. During their time with the Karankawas, one Spaniard, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, kept a written account of their experiences. Cabeza de Vaca and his men lived among the hunting and gathering groups of the Karankawas for several years and provided precious ethnological accounts of their existence. Cabeza’s visit tragically brought disease to the tribe and nearly half the tribe’s population died from disease. Despite this, Cabeza remained in the region amongst the tribe until 1532 when he and the three remaining expedition survivors went in search of a way back to Spain. Cabeza finally returned home in 1537.

After Cabeza’s departure, the Karankawas existence went untouched by Europeans for another 150 years until1685 when a French expedition, led by René Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle, established Fort St. Louis on Garcitas Creek near Matagorda Bay in the heart of Karankawa country near Galveston Island. Although La Salle never actually set foot on Galveston Island, he claimed the entire region for King Louis of France and then headed north. During his absence, the Karankawas, angered by the European’s occupation and forceful Christian conversion tactics, attacked the remaining settlers, killing all but six children who were taken captive. Five of the children, all of the same family, were later rescued by Spanish expeditions in the early 1690s and returned to France.

Galveston Island returned to the control of the Karankawas although the island regularly saw fighting between the tribe and the occasional French or Spanish expedition traveling through the region. This continued until 1786 when Bernardo de Galvez, a Spanish colonial governor and general, sent Jose de Evia to chart the Gulf of Mexico. Evia named the bay Galveston Bay in honor of Galvez. Later the island and the city took the same name of Galveston. Interestingly, Galvez himself never visited the region.

In 1817, pirate Jean Lafitte arrived on Galveston Island and established a home base for his profitable slave-trading business. He set up gambling houses, boardinghouses, pool halls, and saloons for the entertainment of visiting buyers and pirates as well. During this time American exploration was at its peak and Lafitte was forced to flee the island in May 1821 after attacking an American ship.

Galveston Island played an important role in the Mexican-American War when four American ships stationed there succeeded in keeping supplies and men from reaching Santa Anna during the battle of San Jacinto in 1836. In that same year Canadian native Michel B. Menard founded the city of Galveston.

During that time Galveston rose to distinction as a port and a financial center of the Southwest. One street in particular, The Strand, later became known as "The Wall Street of the Southwest," as it contained the largest and most important wholesale houses west of the Mississippi.

During the rest of the 1800s Galveston became the hub of Texas business and growth. Galveston experienced most of Texas’s most significant “firsts”. It had the first post office (1836), first naval base (1836), first cotton compress (1842), and the first law firm west of the Mississippi River (1846). Later in the century it had the first telephone (1878), first electric lights (1883), first medical college (1886), and even the first golf course (1898).

But Galveston's growth came to a sudden halt on September 8, 1900, when a massive hurricane ripped across the island. The storm, with its massive swells and 120 mile per hour winds, drowned most of the city underwater killing one-sixth of the city’s population (over 6,000 people) and destroyed a third of the city. It would go on record as the deadliest natural disaster to ever occur on American soil. Bodies of victims washed ashore for more than one month after the storm at a rate of nearly 70 bodies per day. After the hurricane, Galveston implemented measures to protect itself from future disasters by initiating the construction of a 17-foot seawall which now extends in length 54,790 feet, one-third of Galveston's ocean front. The wall is 16 to 20 feet wide at the base and ranges from 3 to 5 feet in width at the top. It is constructed of granite, sandstone, and concrete.

Although Galveston never regained its place as Texas’s leading industrial city, Galveston has gone on to a bright and prosperous future. Galveston Island and the city of Galveston have become a major resort community with its economic success based in tourism.