![]() Large cargo had to be taken off ocean ships in Galveston Harbor and loaded onto barges for the rest of the trip to Houston. ![]() The city reportedly had the first structure to use electric lighting, the first telephone and the first baseball game in the state.īy the late 1890s, Galveston was still the state’s top trade port over Houston, Dallas, Beaumont and other cities.īoats and barges had been making their way to Houston by way of Buffalo Bayou as early as the 1830s, but the waterway was shallow. 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,” according to the Handbook of Texas.īy the 1880s, Galveston was the largest city in Texas with 22,248 people. “Galveston grew on the strength of the port cotton moved outward and farming supplies and immigrants came in. port in the Gulf of Mexico, behind the Port of New Orleans. Galveston is still the second-oldest continuously operating U.S. That year, Mexico designated Galveston a port of entry and a few years later established a customs house to handle trade. The port at Galveston was founded in 1825, when Texas was still part of Mexican territory. The damage to the city in 1900 is equal to more than $720 million in today’s dollars.ĭuring most of the 19th century, Galveston - with a harbor situated between Houston and the Gulf of Mexico - was the Lone Star State’s busiest seaport. After the storm, debris reportedly clogged the Gulf Coast for miles. Some 16 ships anchored in the harbor suffered extensive damage. The hurricane reportedly destroyed more than 7,000 buildings and left Galveston Harbor in ruins. ![]() It remains the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. The wind and storm surge killed as many as 12,000 people along the Gulf Coast and at least 6,000 on Galveston Island. The hurricane had maximum winds surpassing 135 miles per hour and a storm surge that inundated as much as a third of the city with 5 to 12 feet of water. 8, 1900, a Category 4 hurricane smashed on shore in Galveston, an island city of about 38,000 people on the Gulf Coast of Texas.
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