Galveston Island

Education

All residents are zoned to Ball High School.

Colleges and universities include:

• Galveston College (GC)
• Texas A&M University at Galveston (TAMUG)
• University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB)

History

At the time of European encounter, Akokisa and Karankawa indigenous Americans lived and camped on what became known as Galveston Island. Earlier cultures likely used it as well for seasonal fishing and hunting.

Historians believe the island is where Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his small party of around 80, made a brief stopover in November 1528, during his lengthy and notable survival odyssey. After returning to Spain in 1537, Cabeza de Vaca wrote an account of his eight years of traveling across what is now the US Southwest, first published in 1542 as La relación y comentarios ("The Account and Commentaries"), and in later editions retitled Naufragios y comentarios ("Shipwrecks and Commentaries").

Jao de la Porta, along with his brother Morin, financed the first settlement by ethnic Europeans on Galveston Island in 1816. Jao de la Porta was born in Portugal of Jewish parentage; he became a trader in Texas. (De la Porta was named supercargo for the Karankawa Indian trade and later became a full-time trader.)

The privateer Jean Lafitte brought his men and followers from Louisiana to the island, naming his settlement Campeche, after the older settlement on the Yucatan Peninsula. For a few years, the island and the bay were their base for piracy and smuggling in slaves after the United States had ended its international slave trade in 1808. After attacking an American ship, Lafitte was forced in 1821 to leave by the US Navy.

With the advent of Mexican independence in 1821, and the Texas Revolution soon after in 1836, the Anglo-American population in the Republic of Texas began to grow rapidly. The island quickly became Texas' primary port and a destination for immigration. Following Texas' annexation by the United States in 1845, the island's population soon surpassed the population of San Antonio. It became the state's major population center, a title it would hold until nearly the end of the 19th century. Galveston for a time before the American Civil War was the largest cotton shipping port in the world and the second-largest port for immigration in the United States. In the mid-19th century, it was a major port of entry for the many Germans who entered the state.

During the Civil War, the Union army seized control of the island from the South for a few months during early 1863. Confederate forces commanded by John B. Magruder expelled them from the island, and the Confederates controlled it for the remainder of the war.

On September 8, 1900, the greatest natural disaster to ever strike the United States occurred at Galveston. In the early evening hours of September 8, the Galveston hurricane of 1900 came ashore, bringing with it a great storm surge that inundated most of Galveston Island and the city of Galveston. As a result, much of the city was destroyed, and at least 6,000 people were killed in a few hours.

Isaac M. Cline, the meteorologist in charge of the local Weather Bureau, lived on Galveston Island. Cline was aware of a storm in the Gulf based on previous reports from Florida. Although weather conditions were relatively calm on September 7, Cline observed the rough seas and the high waves that seemed to become more ominous by the hour. He sent a telegram to Washington, D.C., saying he thought a large part of the city was going to be underwater. He predicted a very heavy loss of life.

After the hurricane passed, the state and city constructed a seawall around the settled portion of the island. Some houses were razed, and the many new ones to be constructed were built on stilts. Sand dredged from nearby waterways was pumped into the area within the seawall. In time, the elevation of the eastern portion of the island was raised by as much as 17 ft (5.2 m).

References

Further information

• Galveston Island State Park official web site.
• {{cite book | author-link = Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

References

1. [http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/boi_born_on_the_island_ibc_islander_by_choice/ Barry Popik, "BOI (Born On the Island) & IBC (Islander By Choice)"], ''Big Apple'' blog, 17 August 2008
2. {{Handbook of Texas. Donald E. Chipman. ()
3. ''The Account: Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca's Relacion'', title of 1993 English translation by Martin Favata and Jose Fernandez.
4. "TSHA | de la Porta Brothers".
5. "Jewish Texans".
6. (March 2022)
7. [http://www.galvestonhistory.org/City_on_Stilts_102708.asp "Galveston: A City on Stilts"] {{Webarchive. link. (2009-01-06 , Galveston Historic Foundation, Accessed 2009.10.20.)
8. [http://www.1900storm.com/storm/storm5.lasso "The 1900 Storm: Tragedy and Triumph: Rebuilding a city"] {{webarchive. link. (2010-02-04 , Galveston Newspapers Inc. Retrieved on December 18, 2007)