What a tough, old, worn, tragic but strangely beautiful lady
Galveston is.
Once upon a time,
Galveston was one of the world’s major commercial and shipping centers. She was one of the largest US ports of the day during the 19th
century.
But then, Mother Nature, as she
so often does, taught humanity a lesson by way of one of the most devastating
hurricanes modern US has ever seen. That hurricane swept through Galveston destroying most of the magnificent
architecture and taking some 8,000 lives.
That disaster still shows scars today. But more on that later.
What I find interesting is that Galveston Island’s woes go back through
history. She wasn’t exactly a treasured
and enduring spot for the old local Indian peoples and even the first Spanish
explorers called her the "Isla de Malhado" ( or isle of doom). Then she became a pirate haven in the
early 1800s during the Mexico rebellion against the Spanish. Galveston in those days was known as a pirate
“kingdom”.
The US Navy gave that mob the
boot in about 1821 and slowly, but surely Galveston established herself as an
important commercial and economic hub for the Southern States. She was the center of trade and one of the
largest cotton ports of the day, competing only with New Orleans. Galveston was home to the first US post
office, the first naval base, first Masonic Chapter, first cotton company,
first US insurance company, gas light, opera house, orphanage, telephone and so
on and so forth. Surfice to say, she was
a city of firsts!! She was a city that
marked the ‘golden era’ in the US’s growth and development as the world
power today. She also was one of the first
cities to promote African-American civil rights.
Then 8 September 1900 changed everything. This date marks what is still recorded as the deadliest natural
disaster in US history. The hurricane literally wiped out Galveston and
shattered a very tight-knit community.
Eight thousand plus lives in those days must have been unbelievably
devastating – no family would have been left untouched.
Following that tragedy, Galveston just hit the bottom of the barrel and fell into a state of social,
economic and human decay. The city simply didn’t or couldn't recover. It hosted
brothels, casinos, illegal distilleries etc for a while during the prohibition era but even
those industries abandoned her to the extent that in post WWI, Galveston was on
the brink of sinking into the Gulf and becoming a lost city.
But then, as wars are want to do, WWII came to the rescue with Galveston
being established as a major Army Air Corp base, and the base for the
Bombardment and Anti-submarine corps. That kept her afloat. 
And following WWII, some farsighted
community members decided on a new strategy of not only encouraging immigration
but also protecting and restoring the few historic buildings that
remained. Between the supported
immigration program (which apparently altered the ethnic makeup of not only
Texas but also the western US) and the promotion of Galveston as a beachside
destination, she is slowing clawing her way back almost 100 years later.
Sadly, however, in 2008 Hurricane Ike came along and I guess for locals
it must have felt like history repeating itself. Although better prepared in terms of
evacuations, Ike devastated the Island again.
So when one visits, you are torn between the barren, flat and
‘vacant’ nature of the city and the serene, laid-back beauty of the
island. She really is an Island. The people are islander’s who carry that
grace that comes with living on an island and dealing with everything that that
brings. The remaining old world
architecture certainly hints at what this city must have been like –
magnificent. You are left wondering
what she could have been like today had nature not come knocking during the
formative period of Galveston’s history.
