Denise Alexander - Galvestons Historic Downtown and Strand District

The time between 1870 and 1900 was an important period of growth for Galveston. With 37,000 residents by 1900, Galveston was expanding at a rapid pace. It was a busy port with immigrants arriving daily. Downtown Galveston was the center of all activity, and banks, merchants, public buildings, and churches radiated from the Strand area. This map from the 1897 Galveston City Directory shows the complex trolley lines that connected the residential areas to downtown.

By 1825, the Port of Galveston was a small trading post. The city was established by an act of the Mexican Congress in 1825, when the land was still part of Mexico. The site of the future Port of Galveston was long reported as the best natural harbor in the Texas Colony, and it is the oldest port in the Gulf of Mexico, west of New Orleans.

The city of Galveston revolved around port activities. The export of goods and merchandise provided the largest economic stimulus for Galveston. The natural deepwater port gave Galveston an advantage over other cities on the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. Congress deemed it so important that $8 million was appropriated to deepen the channel and build a jetty in 1889.

This photograph is of the original Union Depot, built in 1897. The purpose of this building was to separate passenger traffic from the freight traffic of the port. As the demand for railroad transit increased, the Union Depot was soon too small and was demolished in the 1930s. The railroad remained as a way to reach Galveston and a way for thousands of immigrants to move into Central Texas and cities beyond.

The first railroad to reach Galveston was the Galveston, Houston, and Henderson Railroad in 1860. Competition for extending lines beyond Texas in order to get the valuable exports elsewhere was somewhat out of Galvestons hands, but it was not without trying. Henry Rosenberg founded the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad in 1873 and remained competitive by investing in connecting lines to the West. (Courtesy of the Galveston County Historical Museum, Galveston, Texas.)

Cotton was king in Texas, and thus in Galveston. By 1900, the Port of Galveston had cotton receipts totaling 2,278,000 bales. In 1878, Galveston was third in the country in cotton exporting and fifth in 1882. The port exported 10 to 11 times greater value of goods and merchandise than it imported in the mid-1870s.