Texas City, Texas

Name: Texas City, Texas
Address: Texas City, TX

Everything Texas City is known for

9 songs mention this city 3 artists from here

RoadyGoat plays music like this when you drive through Texas City. It's free on iPhone, and full songs play through Apple Music.

Texas City, Texas, a deepwater port on the Gulf Coast, has connections to the broader Texas music landscape. While not widely known as a music hub, several artists have called Texas City home, including country musicians Jason James and Derryl Perry, and Christmas artist Charles Brown. The city is also mentioned in songs like "Texas City" by The Tender Things and Johnny Cash's "Rockabilly Blues (Texas 1955)."

These musical ties, though perhaps not extensive, contribute to the cultural fabric of this Galveston Bay community.

Music in Texas City

Songs About Texas City

Happy Is a Happy Texas City!

The Guy Who Sings Songs About Cities & Towns

82%

"Happy Is a Happy Texas City!"

Texas City

The Tender Things

69%

When the Fire Comes Down

Hank Williams

55%

"Texas City, Texas City / Oh, how awful was her fate / First she burned and then exploded"

Talkin' 1947 Texas City Disaster Blues

Johnny Anderson

55%

The Texas City Dyke

Mean Gene Kelton

50%

"(title) "The Texas City Dyke" — names the Texas City Dike fishing jetty"

the ballad of lavern and captain flint

guy clark

10%

Rockabilly Blues (Texas 1955)

Johnny Cash

"And I'm Texas City sad"

Neon

Chris Young

"a little Johnny Lee on"

Houston Romance

I See Hawks In L.A.

"Texas City"

Artists From Texas City

Rivers & Roads in Song near Texas City

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Texas City.

Interstate 45 8 songs Trinity River 11 songs FM 3005 2 songs Interstate 10 36 songs US Route 90 9 songs U.S. Route 59 9 songs

History of Texas City

Texas City, TX RoadyGoat

On April 16, 1947, the French ship Grandcamp, containing ammonium nitrate fertilizer, exploded at the Texas City docks, initiating what is generally regarded as the worst industrial accident in US history, the Texas City disaster. The blast devastated the Monsanto plant and offices immediately across the slip from the Grandcamp, blew away the warehouses, showered shrapnel from the ship in all directions, and ignited a second ship, the S.S.High Flyer, docked at an adjacent slip.

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Texas City, TX RoadyGoat

In 1891, three duck hunters from Duluth, Minnesota, Benjamin, Henry, and Jacob Myers, recognized the potential of Shoal Point along Galveston Bay to become a major port. They formed the Myers Brothers syndicate, bought 10,000 acres of land, and renamed the area Texas City. The Texas City Improvement Company was formed in 1893, plotted the townsite, and received permission to dredge an eight-foot channel in the bay. Despite bankruptcy in 1897, the assets were reorganized into two new companies, Texas City Company and Texas City Railway Terminal Company, which continued to develop the city. Texas City incorporated in 1911. The city was also the site of a major explosion in 1947 that devastated much of the city and its port, known as the Texas City disaster.

Texas City, TX RoadyGoat

Texas City is more than just refineries shimmering in the Gulf Coast sun, though they’re certainly a big part of the story. It’s easy to drive through on Highway 146, headed to the Bayport area, and miss the fact that this place has nurtured some real giants.

Texas City Disaster

1947

The worst industrial accident in American history began when the cargo ship SS Grandcamp, loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer, exploded at the Texas City docks on April 16, 1947.

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Texas City Disaster Memorial

1947

On April 16, 1947, the French cargo ship SS Grandcamp, loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer, exploded in Texas City harbor, killing nearly 600 people in the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history.

Historical Marker →

The Texas City Disaster

1947

On April 16, 1947, three ships--the "Grandcamp", the "High Flyer", and the "Wilson B. Keene"--were docked in the Texas City port. They were loaded with cargo, including ammonium nitrate fertilizer, bound for Europe to assist in the Post-World War II recovery effort. At 8:33 a. m. the Texas City fire department responded to a call for assistance with a fire on the "Grandcamp". As smoke billowed from the ship, spectators gathered to watch. The "Grandcamp" exploded at 9:12 a. m. with a tremendous force that was felt for miles around. A second explosion came at 1:10 a. m. on April 17, when the "High Flyer's" cargo caught fire, destroying the "Wilson B. Keene" as well. More than 550 people, including 27 firemen, were killed; Flying pieces of concrete, steel, and glass injured thousands more; Resulting fires took days to extinguish. Response to the disaster came immediately, with the American Red Cross coordinating relief efforts. Far-reaching effects of the Texas City disaster incuded the implementation of safety standards and revised emergency medical treatment procedures. Citizens determined to rebuild. By 1950 few physical reminders of the disaster remained, although the event retains a prominent place in state and national history. (1990)

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Everhart, Forrest Eugene, Sr.

1944

Forrest Eugene Everhart, Sr., Medal of Honor recipient, was born on August 28, 1922, in Bainbridge, Ross County, Ohio. He was the son of Thomas Henry Everhart and Alice (Beatty) Everhart. As a youngster, he attended the local school in Bainbridge but left high school after two years. He also first learned to shoot a rifle when he developed an interest in squirrel hunting. In January 1940 Everhart enlisted in the Ohio National Guard as a member of Company H, 166th Infantry Regiment in Chillicothe. The 166th was attached to the Ohio National Guard’s Thirty-seventh Infantry Division. On October 15, 1940, the Thirty-seventh Infantry was called to active duty as the nation prepared for World War II . On active duty, Everhart underwent intense military training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and was assigned guard duty with his battalion in Texas City, Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico. In Texas, Everhart met Dorothy Hudson of Texas City. They married on July 10, 1943, and would have six children. In December 1943 Everhart was assigned to Company H, 359th Infantry Regiment of the Ninetieth Infantry Division (known as the “Tough ‘Ombres,” “Texas’ Own,” and the “Alamo” division). On March 23, 1944, the Ninetieth embarked from New York for the European theater of the war. It arrived in England on April 5 and began to train for D-Day and Operation Overlord. The Ninetieth Division experienced some major problems during the Normandy campaign. Elements of the division landed in Normandy on Utah beach on D-Day June 6. On the morning of June 7, the troopship, Susan B. Anthony , transporting Everhart’s unit, the 359th IR, hit a mine in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy and sank. Other ships pulled alongside the doomed vessel and rescued the troops. After the 359th IR landed in Normandy, it fought in support of the Fourth Infantry Division for three days. Although well-trained and equipped for combat, the Ninetieth Division was ill-prepared for fighting in hedgerow terrain and suffered heavy casualties. On June 13, Everhart suffered a leg wound from shrapnel that led to a month of hospitalization in England. In August, Everhart took another blow when a piece of shrapnel hit him in the face under his right eye. The wound caused Everhart discomfort for the rest of his life. Near Kerling, in northeastern France, Technical Sergeant Everhart faced his greatest challenge during World War II. On November 12, 1944, German tanks and infantry forces in a predawn strike threatened to overrun the unit’s left flank and machine gunner. As the platoon commander, Everhart took immediate action, racing 400 yards and through hostile fire, until he reached the machine gun. Everhart directed fire toward the Germans and then engaged the enemy in a fifteen-minute grenade attack that killed thirty and forced the rest to withdraw. Everhart than ran to his threatened right flank and fought the enemy with grenades. His actions forced them to retreat and killed another twenty Germans. Praised for his “gallantry and intrepidity” that halted a German attack, Everhart was recommended for the Medal of Honor. Suffering from trench foot, Everhart was removed from combat a few days after the Kerling battle. Evacuated first to England, he subsequently spent several months at Stark General Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina, and the post hospital at Camp Carson, Colorado. Everhart received his military discharge on July 20, 1945, and then traveled to Texas City to join his wife and his son Forrest E. Everhart, Jr. On August 23, 1945, President Harry Truman presented the Medal of Honor to Technical Sergeant Forrest Everhart and twenty-seven others in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. Congress credited his award to Texas from where he had deployed as part of the Ninetieth Division. A few days later, Everhart returned to Bainbridge, Ohio, where a parade was given in his honor. Accompanied with his parents, his wife, and his child, the young war hero took m

Tsha Handbook → · 3.5 mi away

Moore, Helen Edmunds

1915

Helen Edmunds Moore, state legislator, was born on January 3, 1881, in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, the daughter of J. H. Edmunds, who became a prominent mechanical engineer of Kansas City, Missouri. She became a nurse at Kansas City Hospital, where she met Hugh Benton Moore , a railroad man, who was a patient. They were married on September 5, 1905, in Kansas City, one month before their move to Texas City. Her husband, the pioneer developer of Texas City, served as the general manager of Texas City Terminal Railroad and Mainland Company. As a nurse she provided the only medical service available until the first doctor arrived in 1907. Together they sought civic improvements for the new port: the Moore Memorial Public Library, city incorporation, health laws, and a park. Helen Moore began her successful public career fighting for woman suffrage , touring the state to organize women to work for the constitutional amendment. When the amendment was rejected in 1915 by the Texas legislature, Minnie Fisher Cunningham of Galveston, state president of Texas Equal Suffrage Association , wrote to Moore asking her to continue the campaign for woman suffrage. She wrote, "I am not going to pretend it is an easy work that I am calling you to, but I believe you are the woman for it. I know your spirit and your fire, and they are irresistible." Mrs. Moore accepted the challenge and became chairwoman of the southeast district for TESA. Her interest in politics led her to accept the presidency of the League of Women Voters of Texas in 1923 and become a delegate to the Democratic national conventions in 1924 and 1928. In addition to these political activities, Mrs. Moore organized the Texas City Red Cross Branch in 1916 and served as its first president. As an active member of St. Mary's Catholic Church, she served in the Altar Society. Though childless, the Moores raised three of her nieces at their home near the waterfront and Texas City Dike. The home is a Texas state historic landmark. Fishing and water sports were her favorite hobbies. As a member of the Forty-first, Forty-second, and Forty-fourth legislatures, she revealed the determined spirit behind her gentle image. When she was first elected there was only one other woman in the House. In the Forty-fourth Legislature she was the only woman. She succeeded in getting state authorization for construction of the Texas City Dike as a permanent part of the Galveston Bay channel system. However, her chief interest was social legislation. She was a member of the Public Health Committee and the Education Committee and chairman of the Eleemosynary Committee. Bills she secured included measures for removal of the insane from jails to insane asylums; establishment of state hospitals for cancer, pellagra, and tuberculous patients; and, following her investigation (the first) of state facilities, increased appropriations and improved maintenance for all state hospitals, orphanages, and penal institutions. In 1932 she also served on the appropriations committee, where she was instrumental in the establishment of the first psychopathic hospital at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Under her sponsorship the state established the state board of education, required a six-year scholastic age for children, required teachers in public schools to be citizens of the United States, included the teaching of American and Texas government in public schools, and established schools in the penitentiary with compulsory attendance. (She had found that 23 percent of the inmates had never attended school.) She also urged the passage of the federal child labor amendment. She was very proud of the protective legislation for women that cut their working hours from fifty-four to forty-eight hours a week. She won reelection in 1934 on a pledge to vote for the repeal of the prohibition amendment and the establishment of a liquor tax rather than income and sales taxes. Upon her leaving the Texas House in

Tsha Handbook → · 3.5 mi away

1867 Settlement

1867

The 1867 Settlement (also referred to as the Settlement), located twelve miles south of League City and in the Texas City Historic District in Galveston County, is a historically significant place as the only Reconstruction -era African American community established in the county. Located near Bell Drive, in west Texas City, this was a self-sufficient Black settlement established by former slaves after the Civil War . Unlike most freedmen of that time, the members of the community were landowners and settled an area that they called by various names, including "Our Settlement" and "Campbellville" for the Reverend Israel Campbell who began a church there in 1870. The origins of the settlement can be traced to a Civil War containment camp in northern Galveston County where enslaved men were separated from their families and impressed for service to drive cattle for the Confederacy . Many of the future settlers worked as cowboys and ranch hands for George Washington Butler on Clear Creek (now League City). After the Civil War they drove his cattle on the Chisholm Trail to Abilene, Kansas. Cattle trailing provided a stable income for the post-Civil War destitute state of Texas. After the announcement of emancipation in June 1865 ( see JUNETEENTH ) in Galveston, state Supreme Court judge William Jefferson Jones of Virginia Point set aside the only land in the county available to freedmen, who could procure testimonials from local businessmen declaring they had good morals and work ethics. By 1867 many of the former cowboys and ranch hands, with money earned by driving cattle, began to purchase acreage from Judge Jones, who sold land out of the 320-acre land grant he received during the Republic of Texas era and required payment ten years later. The grant was next to the Galveston, Houston, and Henderson Railroad in what is now west Texas City. Founding families included the Brittons, Bells, Hobgoods, Phillips, and Caldwells. The Kneeland Britton family was the first family of the Settlement. Most of the families were headed by cowboys, and a large number of them still worked for George Washington Butler. One of the cowboys, Calvin Bell, settled in the area in 1874 with his wife Katie, who served as the first schoolteacher. The Bells, an interracial couple, were later charged with unlawful marriage, due to Texas anti-miscegenation laws, and in 1894 Katie Bell, a White woman, was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison; her husband was acquitted. A nearby cemetery, named for the Phillips family, was established in 1880. At that time the Settlement had approximately forty-two residents. By 1885 Reverend Campbell's church, which was later named Greater Bell Zion Missionary Baptist Church, had become the center of the Black community. By the mid-1880s and largely coinciding with the end of the major cattle drives, citizens of the 1867 Settlement began leaving their profession as cowboys and sought more structured, stationary work in agriculture or in the railroad industry. In 1900 the population was eighty-three and consisted mostly of relatives and descendants of the founding families. The community had an adult literacy rate of 88 percent, and the majority of its residents were landowners. The population increased to approximately 120 in 1910. A train track, constructed in 1911 for the purpose of running an electric interurban between Houston and Galveston, ran through the middle of the 1867 Settlement, dividing it in half. A train stop, built at the border of nearby La Marque near the Settlement, resulted in local residents referring to the Settlement as Highlands because of its proximity to Highland Bayou. In 1920 the Settlement had a hotel, restaurant, and Masonic lodge. Children had access to the La Marque Colored School, and as the population increased and spread into nearby La Marque, the community began to lose its identity. Many workers left agriculture in favor of industrial work at nearby plants in Texas City. The 18

Tsha Handbook → · 3.5 mi away

Things to Do in Texas City

historical 16.4 mi away

NASA Johnson Space Center

Houston we have a problem. Where Mission Control guided Apollo 11 to the moon.

historical 16.5 mi away

Space Center Houston

Houston we have a problem. Every word spoken between Apollo astronauts and Earth came through Mission Control at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston. The…

spooky 9.7 mi away

Hotel Galvez Ghost Bride

The Queen of the Gulf opened in 1911 after the Great Storm. Room 501 is haunted by a jilted bride who hanged herself after falsely believing her fiance died at…

historical 9.8 mi away

Galveston Seawall

The 1900 Galveston Hurricane killed at least eight thousand people and remains the deadliest natural disaster in American history. In response Galveston built…

Everything Near Texas City

889 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

Texas City, TX
On April 16, 1947, the French ship Grandcamp, containing ammonium nitrate fertilizer, exploded at the Texas City docks, initiating what is generally regarded as the worst industrial accident in US history, the Texas…
Texas City Disaster · Historical Marker
The worst industrial accident in American history began when the cargo ship SS Grandcamp, loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer, exploded at the Texas City docks on April 16, 1947.
Texas City Disaster Memorial · Historical Marker
On April 16, 1947, the French cargo ship SS Grandcamp, loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer, exploded in Texas City harbor, killing nearly 600 people in the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history.
Booker T. Washington School · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Texas City, and right here is the site of Booker T. Washington School. For African American students, this was the heart of their education for over fifty years. Classes started in churches and…
Sociedad Mutualista Mexicana in Texas City · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Texas City, and right here, the story of the Sociedad Mutualista Mexicana unfolds. Back in the 1870s, Tejanos started mutual aid societies to protect their interests. By 1893, Mexican immigrants…
First Methodist Church of Texas City · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past what's now the First United Methodist Church in Texas City. But this congregation started way back in 1894 with just a few families holding informal meetings. They officially organized as Texas…
Davison Home · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Davison Home, a sturdy Victorian built between 1895 and 1897 by Frank and Florence Davison. This home has seen it all, including being the residence of the very first child born in what was then…
First Texas City Refinery · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Texas City's very first oil refinery, established way back in 1908 by the Texas City Refining Company. This plant processed 1,500 barrels a day initially, but grew to a massive 130,000…
Refinery Row — Why Here, and the Night Skyline · 0.6 mi
Ever wonder why this giant complex sits right here? Texas City has exactly what a refinery needs. A deep-water port on Galveston Bay lets tankers deliver crude and carry off finished fuel. Pipelines thread inland to the…
Texas City Terminal Railway Company · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the heart of Texas City's industrial might! Back in 1893, Minnesota investors saw potential here, forming the Texas City Improvement Company. They built a port and a town, and by 1897, a rail line…
Texas Sugar Refining Company · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a massive industrial undertaking that helped shape Texas City. Back in 1910, the Texas City Transportation Company decided to boost profits by building a sugar refinery right here at the…
The Hurricane Nobody Was Allowed to Mention · 0.9 mi
On July 27, 1943, a hurricane made landfall on the Bolivar Peninsula with almost no public warning, because of U-boats: wartime rules silenced ship radio weather reports and censored forecasts so the enemy couldn't use…

Show all 200 nearby places

Texas City Dike · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving along the coast, and right here, you're passing the Texas City Dike. Back in the day, folks wanted a big port, but digging a channel straight through the bay just filled it with silt. Engineers warned…
First Aero Squadron · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the U.S. Army's very first tactical air unit! Stationed here between 1913 and 1915, these pilots and their seven planes were part of America's response to the revolution in Mexico. While…
Moore, H. B., Old Home · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the old home of Colonel Hugh B. Moore, built way back in 1912. Moore was a big deal in Texas City's early days, a transportation expert who managed railroads and steamship lines. He was instrumental…
St. George's Episcopal Church · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of St. George's Episcopal Church in Texas City. The first Episcopal worship service here happened on Easter Sunday, March 23rd, 1913. That same year, the U.S. Army was here for coastal…
The Texas City Disaster · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
On April 16, 1947, three ships--the "Grandcamp", the "High Flyer", and the "Wilson B. Keene"--were docked in the Texas City port. They were loaded with cargo, including ammonium nitrate fertilizer, bound for Europe to…
Texas City High School (D'Onta Foreman) · 1.0 mi
Texas City High School in Texas City, Texas is where D'Onta Foreman rushed for over 4,000 career yards. He went to the University of Texas and, in 2016, ran for 2,028 yards in a single season — a rare 2,000-yard college…
Refinery Row — Cracking and the Flares · 1.0 mi
Distillation alone leaves a refinery with a problem: far more heavy, low-value oil than light fuel, and the world wants gasoline. So refineries reshape the molecules themselves. In a unit called a catalytic cracker,…
Wedell's Corner · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Wedell's Corner, the childhood home of two brothers who tamed the skies. Jimmy and Walter Wedell were aviation pioneers, born right here. Jimmy was the designer, builder, and racer, even operating an…
U. S. Army Camp at Texas City · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past where the U.S. Army's first ever air squadron was stationed! Back in 1913, Texas City became a strategic point for potential troop movements into Mexico. About 14,000 soldiers set up camp here,…
Texas City · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Texas City, a place that grew from a few families on the bay to a major industrial hub. Look for the Half Moon Shoal Lighthouse, completed way back in 1854, which kicked off development here. By…
Jones, William Jefferson · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a Texas pioneer and judge, William Jefferson Jones. Born in Virginia in 1810, he was practicing law by age 19 and even worked with Mirabeau B. Lamar on a newspaper. Lamar encouraged him…
Old Bay Lake Ranch · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Old Bay Lake Ranch, established by Guy M. Bryan. Bryan was a nephew of Stephen F. Austin, the 'Father of Texas,' and even served as one of the couriers for William B. Travis's famous…
Shoal Point and Half Moon Shoal Lighthouse · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the site of the old Shoal Point and Half Moon Shoal Lighthouse. Scottish immigrants first settled this area in the 1830s, drawn by land grants. By 1878, this community was officially named Shoal…
Austinia · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Austinia, a planned port town that never quite got off the ground. Stephen F. Austin himself envisioned it in the 1830s as a key trade hub. After his death, his sister Emily Austin Perry…
The Day the City Exploded · 1.4 mi
On the morning of April 16, 1947, Texas City was nearly erased from the map. A fire had started in the hold of the SS Grandcamp, a ship at the port loaded with 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. Just after 9…
The Chemistry of a Catastrophe · 1.4 mi
The 1947 Texas City disaster wasn't just a fire; it was a catastrophic lesson in chemistry and physics. The culprit was ammonium nitrate, a compound with a dual identity. As a fertilizer, it's a rich source of nitrogen…
Port of Texas City · 1.4 mi
Texas City exists because of the water in front of you. In the 1890s, investors dredged a deep channel across the shallow flats of Galveston Bay and built a deep-water port right on the mainland, a place where…
The World's Longest Fishing Pier · 1.4 mi
If you follow the road toward the water, you might end up on one of Texas City's most iconic landmarks: the Texas City Dike. Stretching over five miles into Galveston Bay, this massive stone-and-concrete barrier isn't…
A Modern Tragedy: The 2005 BP Explosion · 1.4 mi
The shadow of industrial risk is long in Texas City, and it extends into the 21st century. On March 23, 2005, a series of explosions ripped through the isomerization unit at the BP refinery here, one of the largest in…
Refinery Row — How Crude Is Sorted · 1.5 mi
All around you is one of the densest clusters of oil refining on Earth, so here is what is actually happening inside those towers. Crude oil is not a single substance. It is a soup of hydrocarbons, molecules of carbon…
BP Texas City Refinery Explosion (2005) · 2.2 mi
Fifty-eight years after the 1947 ship explosions, Texas City lived through another disaster, and this time it wasn't a ship. On March 23, 2005, workers were restarting a unit at the BP refinery that boosts gasoline's…
Texas City Dike · 2.6 mi
You're driving onto a road that runs more than five miles straight into Galveston Bay, salt water on both sides and pelicans gliding past the window. This is the Texas City Dike, billed as the longest man-made fishing…
April 16, 1947: The Morning Texas City Exploded · 2.7 mi
The deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history happened here. A mid-morning fire aboard the French freighter SS Grandcamp detonated about 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate at 9:12 a.m. on April 16, 1947, killing at…
Texas City Memorial Cemetery · 2.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Texas City, right now passing the site of a profound tragedy. On April 16th and 17th, 1947, massive explosions ripped through the port, killing hundreds. In the aftermath, relief workers struggled…
Junction City, TX · 3.2 mi
Junction City was founded in 1876 after the organization of Kimble County earlier that year. The original town site was named 'Denman' after Marcellus Denman, who had surveyed and platted the new community. The name was…
Paul's Union Church · 3.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Paul's Union Church in La Marque, a place with a history as varied as its congregations. Established around 1895, this church has always been about community. It's seen Methodist, Presbyterian, and…
Everhart, Forrest Eugene, Sr. · 3.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
Forrest Eugene Everhart, Sr., Medal of Honor recipient, was born on August 28, 1922, in Bainbridge, Ross County, Ohio. He was the son of Thomas Henry Everhart and Alice (Beatty) Everhart. As a youngster, he attended the…
Moore, Helen Edmunds · 3.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
Helen Edmunds Moore, state legislator, was born on January 3, 1881, in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, the daughter of J. H. Edmunds, who became a prominent mechanical engineer of Kansas City, Missouri. She became a nurse…
1867 Settlement · 3.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
The 1867 Settlement (also referred to as the Settlement), located twelve miles south of League City and in the Texas City Historic District in Galveston County, is a historically significant place as the only…
Campbell's Bayou, TX · 3.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving past what used to be Campbell's Bayou, right here in what is now Texas City. This spot was chosen by the Karankawa Indians for their friends, James and Mary Campbell, around 1837. James Campbell, a former…
Texas City, TX · 3.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas City, a major port that owes its existence to a duck hunt! Back in 1891, three brothers from Minnesota were hunting on Galveston Bay and saw the potential for a deepwater port. They bought…
Texas City Terminal Railway · 3.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas City, the heart of a massive industrial port. Right here, developers from Minnesota saw potential in the mainland of Galveston County back in the 1890s. They envisioned a protected harbor,…
Wilcox, Laura Sophia · 3.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Galveston County, and right here is Texas City, the birthplace of Laura Sophia Wilcox, known to many as "Miss Laura." She dedicated over sixty years of her life to teaching, starting her career in…
Moses Lake · 3.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving along Galveston Bay, and right here is Moses Lake. This body of water might be named for Moses Austin, or maybe his daughter Emily, who laid out the town of Austinia on the Dollar Point peninsula way back…
La Marque · 4.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through La Marque, a town that grew up around railroads and then reinvented itself with industry. It started as Highland Bayou, part of a land grant back in 1838. By 1860, the railroad arrived, bringing…
The Black Cowboys Who Bought Their Own Land · 4.3 mi
Immediately beside La Marque, in what is now west Texas City, sits the 1867 Settlement, a community whose origins are tied directly to La Marque's early history. After emancipation, formerly enslaved cowboys and ranch…
Texas's First County Park for Black Children · 4.3 mi
The park you're near carries a piece of Texas history that's easy to drive past without knowing it. Carver Park began with a local leader named Frank Bell Jr., who worked to bring electricity, running water, and…
The Wall, the Pumps, and Two Feet of Margin · 4.3 mi
That grassy embankment running beside the road is not just a hill. It's part of the Texas City Hurricane Flood Protection System, a decades-long piece of engineering that wraps around portions of the Texas City-La…
The Buttermilk Stop a French Nun Renamed · 4.3 mi
The flat coastal city you're entering started life along Highland Bayou as a settlement plainly called Highlands. During the Civil War, soldiers moving between Houston and Galveston reportedly pulled off here to buy and…
Four Railroads Through a Town of 500 · 4.3 mi
For such a small place, La Marque was once astonishingly well connected by rail. The Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad first put the settlement on the map as a stop on the line between Houston and Galveston. By…
The City That Incorporated to Survive · 4.3 mi
By the early 1950s, La Marque had a peculiar distinction: it was reportedly the largest unincorporated residential community in all of Texas, a sprawling settlement with no city government of its own. That made it a…
La Marque, TX · 4.3 mi
The name 'La Marque' has an interesting origin. The community was originally known as Highlands, likely due to its location near Highland Creek. However, in the 1890s, residents learned of another mainland community…
Bell, Frank, Jr. · 4.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a true La Marque legend: Frank Bell Jr. Born in 1893, Bell achieved incredible business success despite limited formal education. He served in World War I, then built a career in the oil…
Bayou Fest: Music and a Cook-Off on the Coast · 4.3 mi
If your timing is right, La Marque throws one of its biggest parties of the year right here. Bayou Fest is the city's annual concert series paired with a barbecue cook-off, a combination that says a lot about what this…
Highland Bayou Park, Where the City Started · 4.3 mi
This big bayou-side green space, Mac McGaffey Highland Bayou Park, sits along the same Highland Bayou where La Marque first took root as the settlement once called Highlands. The park is the city's window onto its…
Barcenas: La Marque's Family Tex-Mex Since 1998 · 4.3 mi
When you want a meal with real local roots rather than a chain off the interstate, Barcenas Mexican Restaurant is La Marque's most easily verified longtime option. This family-owned Mexican and Tex-Mex spot has been…
The World's Biggest Greyhound Track, Now Going Quiet · 4.3 mi
Where a big retail development is now rising, La Marque once had something it billed as a world record. Gulf Greyhound Park opened in 1992 and was promoted as one of the largest greyhound-racing facilities on the…
The Day the Sky Exploded · 4.4 mi
On the morning of April 16, 1947, the people of La Marque felt the world shake. A few miles away in Texas City, a ship full of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, the SS Grandcamp, had caught fire and exploded, creating one of…
The Chemistry of a Catastrophe · 4.4 mi
From parts of La Marque, you can see the industrial skyline of Texas City. It’s a reminder of a powerful STEM lesson learned just a few miles from here. On April 16, 1947, the ship SS Grandcamp was loaded with ammonium…
The Pride of Lincoln High · 4.4 mi
To understand community pride in La Marque, you have to know about the Lincoln Eagles. From 1945 until 1970, Abraham Lincoln High School was the city's all-Black high school, and for the African American community here…
La Marque, TX · 4.4 mi
La Marque, Texas, experienced significant growth in the 1950s, providing a workforce for the petrochemical complex in nearby Texas City. The city, once known as Highlands and Buttermilk Station, was renamed in the 1890s…
From Billboards Back to Marsh · 4.4 mi
Along Interstate Forty Five near the Galveston causeway, between about mile marker five and mile marker seven, lies the John M. O'Quinn I Forty Five Scenic Estuarial Corridor. It is a stretch of restored wetlands, and…
Phillips Memorial Cemetery · 4.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Phillips Memorial Cemetery, a place established around 1880. For over a century, this cemetery served the African American community of Texas City. It's a historic Texas Cemetery, recognized as such…
The Storm That Changed Everything · 4.5 mi
In September 2008, Bayou Vista faced an existential threat. As Hurricane Ike roared toward the coast, it pushed a catastrophic storm surge into Galveston Bay. Here in Bayou Vista, the water rose with terrifying speed,…
Cattle Drives Built the 1867 Settlement · 4.5 mi
South of League City, near present-day Texas City, formerly enslaved people bought land from William Jefferson Jones of Virginia Point and founded what became known as the 1867 Settlement, the only Reconstruction-era…
Settlement Community · 4.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a community with a powerful story, born right after the Civil War. This was "Our Settlement," founded by freed slaves on land purchased specifically for them. Many of the first settlers…
Engineering a Waterfront Dream · 4.5 mi
The very existence of Bayou Vista is a story of civil engineering. The technique used to create this town is called 'finger-fill' or 'cut-and-fill' canal construction. Imagine a giant dredge floating in the marsh. It…
Bayou Vista, TX · 4.5 mi · Local history
Bayou Vista, a community built on canals and the allure of waterfront living, has navigated a shifting landscape in recent years, one marked by both the physical threat of rising waters and the economic currents that…
The Man Who Built a Town from Mud · 4.5 mi
As you look at the homes and canals of Bayou Vista, imagine this place as it was before the bulldozers: a soggy, mosquito-bitten salt marsh on the edge of Jones Bay. To most people it was worthless land. To a developer…
Greater Bell Zion Missionary Baptist Church · 4.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Texas City, and right here is the site of the Greater Bell Zion Missionary Baptist Church. This church has roots stretching back to the late 1860s, founded by a group of African Americans, many of…
Texas City Prairie Preserve · 4.6 mi
A few minutes from the flare stacks, the land goes flat, green, and quiet, and you are looking at one of the rarest landscapes in North America. This is the Texas City Prairie Preserve, more than two thousand acres of…
Six Straight Decembers Playing for State · 5.5 mi
The Cougars of La Marque High School built one of the great dynasties in Texas high-school football, and the home field still anchors that pride. From 1993 through 1998, La Marque reached six consecutive state…
Site of Landmark Campbell's Bayou · 5.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Campbell's Bayou, a place with a story as wild as the Texas coast itself. It was settled back in 1821 by James Campbell, a U.S. Navy veteran and friend of the infamous pirate Jean…
Civil War Fortifications at Virgina's Point · 5.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Virginia Point, a place that held the key to Texas during the Civil War. This railroad bridge was the only link between the mainland and Galveston Island. In 1861, Confederate forces knew its…
La Marque, TX · 5.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through La Marque, a community with a name that literally means 'the mark' in French. But before it was La Marque, it had a wartime nickname: Buttermilk Station. During the Civil War, soldiers traveling…
The Galveston Causeway · 5.8 mi
This narrow ribbon of road and rail is the lifeline that ties Galveston Island to the Texas mainland — and getting it built took more than one try. The first rail bridges reached the island back in 1860, and in 1893 the…
The Island That Drowned and Rebuilt · 6.1 mi
In September 2008, Tiki Island faced its toughest test. Hurricane Ike wasn't a direct hit, but it pushed a catastrophic surge into the bay — ten to twelve feet of water, first off the Gulf across Galveston Island, then…
An Island Made by Machine · 6.1 mi
You're driving on land that didn't exist a human lifetime ago. Tiki Island is a testament to 20th-century earthmoving — a largely man-made island, and the machine that made it was the dredge. In the 1960s, developers…
Tiki Island, TX · 6.1 mi
Tiki Island's history began in the 1960s when developers transformed the area by digging canals and using the fill to elevate the land to between four and ten feet above sea level. Initially a small fishing camp, it…
The Vote to Become an Island Nation · 6.1 mi
Almost none of the ground under Tiki Island is natural. In the 1960s developers dug canals into a low spit in Jones Bay, five miles west of Galveston, and piled the fill up to make dry land four to ten feet above the…
When Blimps Flew Over Hitchcock · 6.2 mi
During World War II, this quiet farming town became a critical part of America's coastal defense. Just south of here, the U.S. Navy built a massive base for a fleet of blimps. At the Hitchcock Naval Air Station, you…
The Engineering of the Ghost Fleet · 6.2 mi
The blimps that flew from Hitchcock during World War II were impressive, but the engineering that supported them was astounding. The centerpiece was the blimp hangar, a structure so vast it could have held several…
Hitchcock, TX · 6.2 mi
Hurricane Harvey hit Hitchcock hard in 2017, and while the water receded, its impact still ripples through the community. Folks remember the eerie silence before the storm, the wind howling across the coastal prairie,…
The Cucumber Capital of Texas · 6.2 mi
Around the turn of the twentieth century, if you were eating fresh vegetables up north in winter, there is a decent chance they came through here. Hitchcock was a produce-shipping powerhouse, and the town exists because…
George and Cynthia Mitchell Memorial Causeway · 6.2 mi · Historical Marker
The Interstate Forty Five causeway between the mainland and Galveston Island is named for George and Cynthia Mitchell; the Legislature designated it in two thousand fifteen. George Mitchell was born in Galveston in…
Kelley's Country Cookin' and the Texas-Sized Potato · 6.2 mi
For a plate that lives up to every Texas cliche in the best way, Kelley's Country Cookin' is the La Marque stop. The place is known for oversized chicken-fried steak, hearty breakfasts that arrive at all hours, and…
Galilee Missionary Baptist Church · 6.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Galilee Missionary Baptist Church, a cornerstone of the African American community in Hitchcock. Organized in 1901 by some of the first Black families to settle here, the congregation…
San Leon, TX · 7.0 mi
San Leon's history is marked by resilience and transformation. In the early 19th century, the notorious pirate Jean Lafitte established a stronghold at Eagle Point, which later became a significant shipping and trading…
Lorraine Crosby School · 7.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Lorraine Crosby School, a beacon of education for African American children in Hitchcock. It started small, with classes held in homes and church annexes. But the community rallied,…
Galveston "News," C. S. A. · 7.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of the Galveston News, Texas' first newspaper! Founded way back in 1842 by Samuel Bangs, it was the place where Willard Richardson put up the city's first four-story building to house…
Camp Wallace: Anti-Aircraft Gunners, Then German Prisoners · 7.3 mi
On the open ground between Hitchcock and Alta Loma, the U.S. Army built a small wartime city almost overnight. Camp Wallace opened on February 1, 1941, spread across more than 3,300 acres, and was named for Col. Elmer…
The Widow Who Bought a Town Its Name · 7.3 mi
Before there was a Hitchcock, there was Highland, a settlement named for the high banks above Highland Bayou where Jonas Butler claimed a league of land in 1848 and French families followed, using the slow bayou as…
When Hitchcock Shipped Its Vegetables by the Trainload · 7.3 mi
For a stretch around the turn of the 20th century, the rich, moist coastal soil around Hitchcock made this little railroad stop a serious produce town. Local farmers worked truck patches, raised cattle, and shipped…
The County Fair That Moved to Hitchcock · 7.3 mi
Every spring, Hitchcock fills up for the Galveston County Fair & Rodeo, an event older than most of the people who attend it. The fair was founded back in 1938, originally held at Runge Park over in Arcadia, built…
The Mathematics of Shooting at Something That Won't Hold Still · 7.3 mi
The gunners trained at Camp Wallace near Hitchcock were learning one of the hardest physics problems the Army had: how to put a shell where an airplane is going to be, not where it is. A target moving at 200 miles an…
Stringfellow Orchards · 7.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former site of Stringfellow Orchards, a place that changed how people grew food across the globe. Back in 1883, Henry Stringfellow, a renowned horticulturist, started an experimental garden right…
Buy Your Bait, Then Sit Down for a Po-Boy · 7.3 mi
If you want to eat somewhere that still smells like working Galveston County water, Louis' Bait Camp & Restaurant at 3510 State Highway 6 in Hitchcock is the kind of place the coast keeps making and rarely improves on.…
Galveston-Port Bolivar Ferry · 7.8 mi
Head to the northeast tip of the island and you can roll your car straight onto the Galveston–Port Bolivar Ferry and cross the ship channel for free. Service began on April 12, 1930, and the state took it over in 1934;…
San Leon, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through San Leon, a community with roots stretching back to the Karankawa Indians and even Jean Laffite. Originally known as Edward's Point, it became North Galveston in the late 1800s, boasting a…
The SS Selma: A Concrete Ship That Refuses to Dissolve · 7.9 mi
WWI burned through steel so fast the U.S. built ships out of CONCRETE: President Wilson approved 24 concrete vessels for the Emergency Fleet, only 12 were finished, and the 431-foot, 7,500-ton tanker Selma was the…
USS Texas (BB-35) · 8.0 mi · Scraped Hmdb
You're approaching a true naval legend: the USS Texas. She's the last surviving dreadnought battleship in the world, a type of warship that revolutionized naval power. Launched in 1912, the Texas served in both World…
USS Stewart (DE-238) · 8.1 mi
You're driving near a real piece of naval history: the USS Stewart! This destroyer escort saw intense action in World War II, protecting vital convoys. Launched in 1943, the Stewart was primarily assigned to escort duty…
Hitchcock · 8.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Hitchcock, a town with roots stretching back to the 1870s. Originally home to the Karankawa people and later cattle ranchers, this area boomed when the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway arrived.…
Magnolia Grove Cemetery · 8.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Magnolia Grove Cemetery, established in 1870 by an association aiming to serve all of Galveston. A major storm in 1875 damaged the grounds, leading to disrepair and the bankruptcy of the…
San Leon Cemetery · 8.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the San Leon Cemetery, a place that's seen a lot of history wash away. The old section was in use by the 1890s, part of a town called North Galveston. That town was wiped out by the 1900 storm, but…
A Ghost Ship's Namesake and the Sub That Avenged Pearl Harbor · 8.2 mi
Two WWII vessels rest at Seawolf Park, and both carry stranger stories than most museum ships. On her FIRST war patrol, June 19, 1944, the submarine USS Cavalla torpedoed and sank the Japanese carrier Shokaku, one of…
USS Cavalla (SS-244) · 8.2 mi
This submarine is a legend, best known for delivering a crippling blow to the Japanese Navy during World War II. The USS Cavalla, commissioned in 1944, was on her very first war patrol when she encountered a major…
Levi Charles Meyers Harby · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Galveston, where Levi Charles Meyers Harby lived out his remarkable life. He served in the U.S. Navy during the War of 1812, even becoming a prisoner of war in England. Later, he joined the…
SS Selma · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the final resting place of the SS Selma, a massive concrete ship built during World War I. Though it never saw combat, this 7,500-ton oil tanker met its end right here in Galveston Bay after hitting…
From Hitchcock High to the Baltimore Ravens · 8.2 mi
Randy Hymes grew up playing his high-school football right here in Hitchcock before turning into one of the area's standout pro athletes. Born in 1979, he starred at Hitchcock High School, then went on to Grambling…
Dowell, Greensville S. · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
Driving past Galveston, look for the history of Dr. Greensville S. Dowell. A Virginia native, he arrived in Texas in 1853. During the Civil War, he served as a Confederate surgeon right here in Galveston. But his impact…
Major Leon Dyer · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past where Leon Dyer, a German immigrant who'd also fought in Florida, arrived in Galveston in 1836. He helped supply General Houston and was appointed Major, serving to clear Texas of Mexican troops. He…
Galveston: Gateway to Texas · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Galveston, which for a long time was the main gateway into Texas. Back in the 1820s, settlers arrived by sea, and later, Galveston became a major port, second only to New Orleans. Its excellent…
Galveston Quarantine Stations · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Galveston Quarantine Stations. Unregulated entry of immigrants through Galveston in the late 1830s greatly contributed to local outbreaks of yellow fever and other communicable diseases. The young…
Cherry, Wilbur · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the resting place of Wilbur Cherry, a man who served in the Texas army back in 1836. But his service didn't end there. In 1843, he purchased the Galveston News, becoming a key voice in the city's…
Trueheart, John Overton · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a significant Galveston merchant! John Overton Trueheart arrived in Texas around 1838, serving with Jack Hays' Rangers and earning a land grant. He then partnered in a General Land Agency…
The Iron Tower That Wouldn't Fall: Bolivar Point Lighthouse · 8.3 mi
The dark 117-foot iron lighthouse at Bolivar Point, first lit November 19, 1872, is one of only two iron lighthouses left in Texas, and it earned its rust. On September 8, 1900, during the deadliest natural disaster in…
The Battle of Galveston and the Words "My Father Is Here" · 8.3 mi
On New Year's Day, January 1, 1863, Confederate forces under General John 'Prince John' Magruder stormed back into Union-held Galveston and recaptured the city. In the harbor fighting they took the Union gunboat Harriet…
Elissa (ship) · 8.3 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Climb aboard the Elissa, a beautifully restored 1877 tall ship and one of the oldest sailing vessels still afloat. This iron-hulled barque was built in Scotland and spent decades hauling cargo around the world. For…
Galveston Railroad Museum · 8.3 mi · Scraped Hmdb
All aboard for a trip back in time! This spot, now home to the Galveston Railroad Museum, was once the bustling Santa Fe Railroad station, the gateway to the island. The museum itself was established thanks to the…
Childress, George Campbell · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the resting place of George Campbell Childress, a key figure in Texas history. Born in Tennessee in 1804, Childress brought his talents to Texas and became a co-author and signer of the Texas…
Michel B. Menard · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Michel B. Menard's final resting place. Born in Canada, Menard arrived in Texas in 1829, eventually settling here on Galveston Island in 1833. He was a true founder of this place, signing…
Nicholas D. Labadie · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site where Nicholas D. Labadie lived and worked in Galveston. Born in Canada in 1802, Labadie first trained for the priesthood before switching to medicine. He arrived in Texas in 1831, serving…
Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Company · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the birthplace of a railroad giant! In 1874, Galveston voters backed a bold plan to build a line bypassing Houston, all the way to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Henry Rosenberg broke ground in 1875, and soon…
Lt. Commander Edward Lea · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Lt. Commander Edward Lea. (1837-1863) Maryland-born Edward Lea graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1855. At the onset of the Civil War, his father, Albert, unsuccessfully tried to persuade him…
Louis Trezevant Wigfall · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Galveston home of Louis Trezevant Wigfall, a man who lived a full life from 1816 to 1874. He arrived in Texas a Seminole War veteran and a lawyer, eventually serving in the Texas Legislature. But…
Moore, Bernard, Temple · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Galveston, and right here is the story of Bernard M. Temple, a name you might recognize from a certain Texas city. After serving in the Civil War, Temple became a top-notch civil engineer. From…
Fisher, William S., Captain · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the marker for Captain William S. Fisher, a man who fought for Texas independence and then led Texans into a disastrous raid. Born in Virginia, Fisher arrived in Texas and served as a captain in the…
Hall, Warren D. C. · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a man who played a key role in the Texas Revolution. Warren DeWitt Clinton Hall, born in North Carolina, arrived in Texas and joined military expeditions against Spain and Mexico. He was…
Hitchcock, Lent Munson · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Lent Munson Hitchcock, a man who sailed into Texas history. Born in 1816, Hitchcock was a sailor by age 14, joining the Texas Navy around 1836. He landed in Galveston in 1837 and became a…
Journeay, Henry · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the resting place of Henry Journeay, a man who saw some of the most turbulent years in Texas history. Born in New York in 1815, Journeay arrived in Texas and immediately joined the fight for…
Love, James · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a remarkable life lived in Texas. James Love, a veteran of the War of 1812, arrived in Texas in 1837. He was a lawyer who helped found Galveston and even served as a delegate to the 1845…
Magruder, John Bankhead · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the birthplace of John Bankhead Magruder, a Confederate general who played a key role in Texas during the Civil War. Born in Virginia in 1810, Magruder graduated from West Point and fought with…
Allen, Major John M. · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the final resting place of Major John M. Allen. He fought bravely at the Battle of San Jacinto, a pivotal moment in Texas history. After the revolution, Allen turned his attention to building a city,…
Cedar Lawn · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Galveston's Cedar Lawn neighborhood, a planned enclave created in 1926 specifically for the W.L. Moody family and their company officials. Look around at the unique street plan – it breaks the…
Samuel May Williams · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the resting place of Samuel May Williams, a man who was so much more than just a name on a tombstone. Born in Providence, Rhode Island, back in 1795, Williams arrived in Texas and became an intimate…
Yard, Nahor Biggs (1816-1889) · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a true Galveston pioneer! Nahor Biggs Yard arrived here in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1838</say-as>, fresh from New Jersey, and built one of the city's very first homes. Yard…
Joseph, Thomas · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the island city of Galveston, where Thomas Miller Joseph made his mark. Born in Connecticut in 1823, Joseph arrived here around 1841. He studied law and became a prominent figure in the Democratic…
Sherman, Catherine Isabel Cox · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Galveston, and right here is the resting place of Catherine Isabel Cox Sherman. Born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1815</say-as>, she was the wife of General Sidney Sherman, a key…
Santa Fe Union Station · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Santa Fe Union Station in Galveston. This building went up in 1913, serving as the main passenger hub for the city and housing the Santa Fe Railroad's Gulf Lines offices. An 11-story tower and an…
The City That Jacked Itself Out of the Sea · 8.4 mi
After the 1900 storm, Galveston didn't just rebuild: it raised the entire city. From 1903 to 1911, roughly 500 city blocks were lifted with 16.3 million cubic yards of dredged sand. More than 2,000 buildings (counts…
Juneteenth · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Galveston, the birthplace of Juneteenth, the oldest celebration of the end of slavery in the U.S. On June 19th, <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1865</say-as>, Union troops arrived and read…
Battle of Galveston · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Galveston, a key Texas port that changed hands during the Civil War. In October 1862, Union forces demanded its surrender, and the city fell after a brief exchange of gunfire. But Confederate General…
Pier 19, Mosquito Fleet Berth · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past where Jean Lafitte's pirate ships once sailed, from 1815 to 1821. The Republic of Texas Navy also called this port home in the 1830s and 40s. Later, Confederate forces launched marine assaults nearby…
Mardi Gras in Galveston · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Galveston, where Mardi Gras has been a tradition for over 150 years! It started way back in 1867 with a masked ball at Turner Hall, inspired by European masquerades. After some breaks, it was revived…
Navy of the Republic of Texas · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past where the first navy of the Republic of Texas was established. Governor Henry Smith commissioned it on November 25th, 1835, with four ships: the Brutus, Independence, Liberty, and Invincible. These…
The Strand Historic District · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
In the 1870s and 1880s, this five-block stretch of iron-front buildings on Galveston Island handled more cotton money than anywhere else on earth. They called it the Wall Street of the Southwest. The Strand was the…
Thomas Jefferson League Building · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the historic Thomas Jefferson League Building in Galveston, right on The Strand, once called the 'Wall Street of the Southwest.' Imagine this area back in 1869, a mile-wide fire raged through the…
Clayton, Nicholas J. · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the legacy of Nicholas J. Clayton, a Galveston architect whose bold style defined the city's golden era. Arriving in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1872</say-as> from Memphis to oversee…
Greenleve, Block & Co. Building · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Greenleve, Block & Co. Building in Galveston, a testament to late 19th-century commercial architecture designed by Nicholas J. Clayton. Completed in 1882, it first housed a wholesale dry goods…
Hutchings, Sealy & Co. Building · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past what used to be Galveston's "Wall Street of the Southwest." Back in 1895, prominent Galveston architect Nicholas J. Clayton designed these connected office buildings for the Ball, Hutchings & Co.…
Leon & H. Blum Co. Building · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a Galveston business empire! Leon Blum, a young immigrant from France, started a partnership with his brother in Texas around 1852. By 1868, the firm Leon & H. Blum was established right…
Magale Building · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising down The Strand in Galveston, and right here, you're passing the Magale Building. A big fire back in 1869 wiped out whatever was here before. But John F. Magale rebuilt it in 1870, using some of the…
First Baptist Church of Texas City · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Texas City. It all started on March 16, 1905, when five residents met for worship and Bible study. The Rev. D.L. Griffith helped them found the church, and…
Jack Johnson Birthplace · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
Jack Johnson was born in Galveston in 1878, the son of former slaves, and became the most dangerous man in America by learning to fight on the docks. On December 26, 1908, in Sydney, Australia, he knocked out Tommy…
Jean Lafitte's Campeche · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
Before Galveston was a city, it was a pirate kingdom. In 1817, the French privateer Jean Lafitte sailed into the harbor and established Campeche, a fortified settlement of over a thousand men that operated as a base for…
Galveston - The Maceo Empire · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
While the rest of America went dry during Prohibition, Galveston got wet. Sam and Rosario Maceo, Italian immigrant barbers, built a bootlegging and gambling empire that turned the island into an open city where the law…
Galveston beachfront and seawall · 8.5 mi
Galveston's seawall runs ten miles of solid concrete — built after the 1900 hurricane to keep the Gulf from taking the island again. These days it's a jogging path. About fifty-five thousand people live on Galveston,…
Ballinger, W. P., Law Firm · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the oldest continuous law firm in Texas. On November 13th, 1846, William Pitt Ballinger founded this practice. On that very same day, he received the very first law license ever issued by…
Galveston National Weather Service · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the very first weather service office in Texas, established way back on April 19th, 1871. This was one of the first in the entire United States, born from a Congressional act just a year…
Moody, Jr., William Lewis · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the legacy of W. L. Moody, Jr., a titan of Texas industry. Born in 1865, Moody started his career joining his father's cotton firm in Galveston in 1886. But he didn't stop there. He founded W. L.…
First Hutchings-Sealy National Bank · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Texas' oldest bank, and its first national bank! Back in 1835, Thomas McKinney and Samuel Williams got a charter from Mexico to start a banking business. They were so wealthy, they helped…
Galveston, TX · 8.5 mi
Galveston emerged from the coastal prairies and salt marshes that define this stretch of the Gulf Coast. It wasn't just chance that a city sprouted here, but the deep harbor formed by Galveston Bay. That bay, fed by the…
Hendley's Row · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past Hendley's Row in Galveston, a testament to the city's booming maritime commerce in the mid-1800s. Founded in 1845 by William Hendley and partners, this firm launched the Texas and New York Packet…
St. Patrick Catholic Church · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past St. Patrick Catholic Church, a cornerstone for Galveston's Irish immigrants. Established in 1870, the first wooden church here was wiped out by a storm just days after its completion. But the Rev.…
Stewart Building · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Stewart Building in Galveston, a place that's seen some serious business history. It started back in 1842 as a commission firm. By 1882, this very building was finished, designed by Eugene T.…
The Heidenheimer Bros. - Marine Building · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Marine Building, constructed in 1876 by German immigrant Samson Heidenheimer. Heidenheimer started as a street vendor before the Civil War, then built a fortune dealing in cotton and even…
Washington Hotel · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Washington Hotel, a business that stood for a century right here in Galveston. Originally built in 1873 as the Cosmopolitan Hotel, it was renamed the Washington Hotel in 1878. It…
Grace Episcopal Church · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Galveston's Grace Episcopal Church, a beautiful example of Gothic Revival architecture right here in town. It started as a mission back in 1874, becoming its own parish just two years later. Look for…
Heidenheimer-Hunter Building · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the Heidenheimer-Hunter Building, a survivor of Galveston's bustling commercial past. Built in 1878, it first housed a wholesale grocery business. Imagine the goods coming and going! Later, it…
Mallory-Produce Building · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Mallory-Produce Building in Galveston, a survivor of fires and a testament to 19th-century commerce. Originally built after 1877, this structure burned down in 1881, only to be rebuilt that same…
Poole-Parker House · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Poole-Parker House in Galveston, a beautiful Greek Revival cottage built in the 1860s. It started life on land bought from Valentine Poole, a cattle dealer who eventually bought the house back.…
Smith, John, House · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of John Smith, an Irish immigrant who served as a Galveston police officer. He built this house in 1890, right on Post Office Street. Notice its unique four-bay design and that cool…
Trueheart-Adriance Building · 8.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Galveston, and you're passing the Trueheart-Adriance Building. Look for this beauty, designed by Nicholas J. Clayton in a high Victorian style. It was built in 1882 for H. M. Trueheart & Co., the…
Galveston 1900 Hurricane · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
On the morning of September 8, 1900, Galveston was the richest city in Texas. By midnight, it was a morgue. A Category 4 hurricane made landfall with 145-mile-per-hour winds and a storm surge that submerged the entire…
Rosenberg Avenue: The Street That Honors Galveston's Greatest Benefactor · 8.6 mi
This street was not always Rosenberg Avenue. For decades it was Bath Avenue, the straight shot from downtown to the beachfront bathhouses. In March 1898 the city renamed 25th Street to honor Henry Rosenberg, a Swiss…
Moody Home, The · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Moody Home in Galveston, built around 1894 by W.L. Moody Jr., a financier and philanthropist who founded the Moody Foundation. This late Victorian residence is notable as possibly the first home…
Ball High School · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Galveston, passing the site of a school with a dramatic origin story. In the 1880s, a wealthy philanthropist named George Ball offered the city a choice: he'd fund a high school, or build and…
Galveston Immigration Stations · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Galveston's Strand, a street that once welcomed thousands of hopeful immigrants to Texas and the Southwest. Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1875</say-as>, federal laws changed, and…
American National Insurance Company · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
As you cruise through Galveston, look for the American National Insurance Company. It all started in 1905, right here, founded by W.L. Moody Jr. Imagine, just ten employees in the Moody Building, aiming to provide life…
Old Galveston Market House and City Hall · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Galveston's original Market House and City Hall. What started as an informal outdoor market in the 1830s grew into a bustling structure built in 1846. It housed stalls for meat,…
Hagemann-Cobb House · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising past the Hagemann-Cobb House in Galveston, a real stunner built in 1892. Imagine this place back then, owned by John Hagemann, a local grocer. Fast forward a few decades to 1932, and a new owner moves…
Levy, E. S., and Company · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Galveston, and right here stood the heart of a family business that dressed Texas for generations. Founded in 1877 as Levy & Weiss, this was a family clothier. The building you see parts of went…
Marschner, C. F., Building · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Marschner Building in Galveston, a place with a story of resilience. Built in 1905 and 1906 by local contractor Otto Haase, it was meant to be home and business for C.F. and Marie Marschner. But…
Texas Society, Sons of the American Revolution · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Galveston, and right here, the Tremont Hotel used to stand. In <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1896</say-as>, descendants of American Revolution soldiers met here to form the Texas Society,…
First Lutheran Church · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Lutheran Church in Galveston, one of the very first Evangelical Lutheran churches in all of Texas. It was founded way back in 1850 by Reverend G. Guebner, with just seven…
Galveston Island · 8.7 mi
You're driving past Galveston Island, a place that's seen more history than almost anywhere in Texas. Back in 1528, Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca was shipwrecked here and taken in by the Karankawa Indians, the coastal…
Maison Rouge: The Pirate Burned It, So Whose Ruins Are These? · 8.7 mi
Jean Laffite arrived at Galveston in April 1817 and ran the privateer colony of Campeche from here, with as many as 1,000 to 2,000 followers at its peak. His headquarters, Maison Rouge (the Red House), was painted red…
Kempner Street: The Sugar King's Galveston · 8.7 mi
This stretch of 22nd Street carries a second name, Kempner Avenue, in appreciation of the Kempner family, one of the most powerful business and philanthropic families this island ever produced. The honor centers on…
The Strand: How a Jeweler Renamed Galveston's "Wall Street" · 8.7 mi
Officially it is just Avenue B, but everyone calls it The Strand. The popular story credits Michael William Shaw, a German immigrant jeweler who opened his shop near this stretch in 1855. Disliking "Avenue B," he…
Tremont Street: The Road That Took a Hotel's Name · 8.7 mi
When the Galveston City Company laid out the island in 1838, it used a plain grid: numbered streets running north and south, lettered avenues running east and west. So 23rd Street was simply the 23rd line on the plan.…
Point Bolivar · 8.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Point Bolivar, a place with a history as wild as the Gulf winds. Back in 1815, Colonel Henry Perry set up a military camp here, dreaming of invading Spanish Texas. Just a year later, a privateer…
Lafitte, Jean · 8.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Jean Lafitte's infamous Galveston headquarters, Maison Rouge, the Red House. In 1817, this notorious pirate and his crew settled here, flying the Mexican flag and raiding Spanish ships.…
Rosenberg Library · 8.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Rosenberg Library in Galveston, the oldest free public library still operating in Texas. It was established in 1900 by Henry Rosenberg, a wealthy banker and merchant who wanted to support the…
Galveston Historical Foundation · 8.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Galveston Historical Foundation. In 1871, twelve men formed the Galveston Historical Society to preserve the history of Texas by collecting important documents. The group and its archive grew, but in…
Moody Mansion · 8.7 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Pulling up to this grand old house, you're looking at the Moody Mansion, a testament to one of Texas's most influential families. This impressive Romanesque mansion was finished in 1895. It was originally built for…
Aury, Louis-Michel and Francisco Xavier Mina · 8.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a temporary camp, a crossroads for freedom fighters in late 1816 and early 1817. Look to your right, and imagine soldiers from many nations gathered here, united by one purpose: freeing…
U. S. Naval Air Station (Blimp Base) · 8.7 mi · Historical Marker
Hey road trippers! You're cruising past the site of a unique World War II operation. Just south of here, the U.S. Navy built a blimp base to patrol our coastlines for German submarines. These giant airships, with their…

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