1892 Perron map GALVESTON, TEXAS, #128 |
Nice map titled Galveston, from wood engraving with fine detail and clear impression. Overall size approx. 17.5 x 16 cm, image size approx. 10 x 7.5 cm. From: Les Etats Unis, volume no. 16 of La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes, 19 volumes (1875-94), great work of Elisee Reclus. Cartographer is Charles Perron.
Galveston
city, seat (1838) of Galveston county, southeastern Texas, U.S., 51 miles (82
km) southeast of Houston. It is a major deepwater port on the Gulf Intracoastal
Waterway, at the northeast end of Galveston Island, which extends along the
Texas coast for about 30 miles (48 km), separating Galveston Bay and West Bay
from the Gulf of Mexico.
The Spanish explorer Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was probably shipwrecked on the
island in 1528. The French explorer La Salle visited the island in 1686 and
named it St. Louis for his sovereign, but it remained unoccupied except by
Karankawa Indians. In 1777 troops of Bernardo de Gálvez, Spanish governor of
Louisiana (later viceroy of Mexico), temporarily occupied the island and named
it Gálvez (whence Galveston). The pirate Jean Laffite made the place his
headquarters from 1817 to 1821.
Settlement of the island then began, and in 1834 Michel B. Menard organized the
Galveston City Company and laid out a town site. During the Texas revolt against
Mexico (1835–36), the four ships that constituted the Texas Navy (Invincible,
Brutus, Liberty, and Independence) were based at Galveston; the city briefly,
before the successful outcome of the Battle of San Jacinto (April 21, 1836),
served as the capital of the republic when the temporary president, David
Burnet, arrived there with his cabinet. During the Civil War Galveston was an
important Confederate supply port; it was captured by a Union fleet in October
1862 but was retaken by Confederates a few months later.
Two factors dislodged Galveston from its leading commercial position: the rise
of competitive Texas ports, notably Houston, and a destructive hurricane on
September 8, 1900, in which more than 5,000 lives were lost and much of the city
was destroyed. After this disaster, a protective seawall 17 feet (5 metres) high
and 10 miles (16 km) long was built, paralleled by a wide boulevard overlooked
by hotels. The wall broke the force of a powerful hurricane in September 1961
and reduced flood damage. The seawall held back the worst of the storm surge
when Hurricane Ike made landfall on September 13, 2008, but it failed to prevent
large-scale flooding and widespread damage to homes and businesses.
Shipping, oil refining, food processing, and resort business are major economic
assets. Chief exports are cotton, grain, and sulfur; imports include sugar, tea,
and bananas. Galveston offers ship repairing, including nuclear-service
facilities. The island is connected to the mainland by causeways, and a
superhighway gives rapid access to Texas City, Houston, and other communities.
Access from the northeast is by ferry from Bolivar Peninsula across Galveston
Harbor. The city is the site of the University of Texas Medical Branch (1881); a
marine sciences and maritime resources branch of Texas A&M University (1962);
and Galveston (junior) College (1966). Of historical and touristic interest is
the Strand, a 40-block area of Victorian homes, art galleries, shops, and
restaurants. Moody Gardens, adjoining the Galveston Island Convention Center,
comprises a pyramid containing an artificial rainforest, an aquarium, a
paddle-wheel steamship, and other attractions. Inc. 1839. Pop. (2000) 57,247;
(2010) 47,743.