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Moving - Galveston, Texas
Are you planning on relocating into or
out of Galveston, TX? Are you looking for a local mover
to make that move easy for you and your family?
Continental Relocation, a full service moving company, can
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consultants are fully versed in all phases of the moving
process. Call Continental Relocation or click here for a
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Meanwhile, enjoy a brief history
of Galveston, TX
A Brief History of Galveston, Texas
The city of Galveston is on Galveston
Island two miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico,qv
at 29°18' north latitude and 94°47' west longitude, in
Galveston County. It is fifty miles from Houston and is
the southern terminal point of Interstate Highway 45. The
island is a part of the string of sand barrier islands
along the coastal zoneqv
of Texas. On its eastern end where the city stands the
currents of Galveston Bay maintain a natural harbor which
historically provided the best port site between New
Orleans and Veracruz. Karankawa Indians used the island
for hunting and fishing, and it was the probable location
of the shipwreck landing of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vacaqv
in 1528. José de Evia,qv
who charted the Texas coast in 1785, named Galveston Bay
in honor of Bernardo de Gálvez,qv
the viceroy of Mexico. Later mapmakers applied the name
Galveston to the island. Louis Auryqv
established a naval base at the harbor in 1816 to support
the revolution in Mexico, and from this point Aury,
Francisco Xavier Mina, and Henry Perryqqv
launched an unsuccessful attack against the Spanish in
Mexico. When Aury returned with his ships after leaving
Perry and Mina on the Mexican coast he found Galveston
occupied by Jean Laffite,qv
who had set up a pirate camp called Campeachy to dispose
of contraband and provide supplies for the freebooters. In
1821, however, the United States forced Laffite to
evacuate. Mexico designated Galveston a port of entry in
1825 and established a small customshouse in 1830. During
the Texas Revolutionqv
the harbor served as the port for the Texas Navyqv
and the last point of retreat of the Texas government.
Following the war Michel B. Menardqv
and a group of investors obtained ownership of 4,605 acres
at the harbor to found a town. After platting the land in
gridiron fashion and adopting the name Galveston, Menard
and his associates began selling town lots on April 20,
1838. The following year the Texas legislature granted
incorporation to the city of Galveston with the power to
elect town officers.
Galveston grew on the strength of the
port; cotton moved outward, and farming supplies and
immigrants came in. The city served as a transfer point
for oceangoing vessels and coastal steamers which ran a
route through Galveston Bay and Buffalo Bayou to Houston.
The construction of the Galveston, Houston and Henderson
Railroad, which built a bridge to the island in 1860,
strengthened the link between the two towns. Business
collapsed, however, when the Civil Warqv
brought a blockade of the port by Union ships and a brief
occupation of the town by federal troops. The dramatic
battle of Galvestonqv on
New Year's Day, 1863, ended the occupation, but the port
remained isolated and served mainly as a departure point
for small blockade runners. Following the war Galveston
quickly recovered; northern troops were stationed in the
city, and a depleted state demanded the trade goods denied
by the blockade and the war effort. With so many
susceptible people present, however, the city in 1867
suffered one of its worst onslaughts of yellow fever,
which affected about three-fourths of the population and
killed at a rate of twenty per day. This disease, a malady
of most southern ports, did not cease to be a threat until
the institution of rigid quarantines after 1873. Galveston
nonetheless surged ahead and ranked as the largest Texas
city in 1870 with 13,818 people and also in 1880 with
22,248 people. It had the first structure to use electric
lighting, the Galveston Pavilion; the first telephone; and
the first baseball game in the state. The Galveston
News,qv founded in
1842, is the state's oldest continuing daily newspaper.
The Galveston buildings, especially those designed by
architect Nicholas J. Clayton,qv
were among the finest of the time; in 1881 the city won
the site of the state medical school in a statewide
election; and the Grand Opera House was built in 1894 and
presented the best theatrical productions in Texas. The
opera house was restored as a modern performing arts hall
in the 1980s.
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