Galveston, Texas: Destruction and Rebirth on the Cowboy Riviera

The word “Texas” evokes images of cowboys, huge cattle ranches, and oil pumps, the very heart of the Wild West. The beach, on the other hand, doesn’t normally spring to mind, but all you have to do is look at a map to see the state has more than 300 miles of coastline, including numerous islands stuck out in the Gulf of Mexico.

Of all these islands, none is more famous than Galveston. The city on the island that shares its name was once one of the largest and most prosperous in Texas. Since it was first founded, Galveston has been waging a two-front war for survival against the forces of nature and against the changes to the economy that have repeatedly rendered it obsolete. Time and again, Galveston has been struck by catastrophe, from hurricanes to the departure of key industries, and time and again, the city has rebuilt and rebranded. In the process, it has forged a culture unique to itself among its residents: Galvestonians have long prided themselves on doing things differently than the rest of Texas.

Over the years, Galveston has been a pirate hideaway, a prosperous shipping port, the vice capital of the southwest, and a family friendly tourist hotspot, all of them in one way or another taking advantage of the city’s strategic location next to the sea. But Galveston’s position is a precarious one: there is real concern that one day, the ocean might swallow the whole island up, turning Galveston into a modern-day Atlantis.

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Further Reading:
Galveston: A History of the Island by Gary Cartwright, TCU Press 1998