|
A Magical Island Kingdom ™ |
|||||
|
Self-Guided Tours Downtown Self-Guided Tour East End Self-Guided Tour San Jacinto Self-Guided Tour Beach Central Self-Guided Tour Kempner Park Self-Guided Tour Industrial District Self-Guided Tour Downtown
 The Hutchings-Sealy Building (1896); 2326-2328 Strand The Downtown area has always been the commercial center, as well as the heart and soul of Galveston. The Harbor, and the business district, created the economic engine that made Galveston so prosperous in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. In the mid-to-late Nineteen Century, it was the most powerful banking and financial center between New Orleans and San Francisco. The Downtown area contains the largest concentration of important buildings, in the City, and one of the most important collections of 19th-Century commercial buildings in the country! This area is so historically significant that a section of Downtown Galveston has been designated as The Strand National Historic District. Today, Downtown Galveston has been transformed into the home of over 95 shops, nightclubs, bars, restaurants, pubs, antique stores, boutiques, coffee shops, souvenir stores and art galleries; as well as many offices, apartments and lofts. It is also the center of a rich and diverse live music and art scene. There is a sense of timelessness in Downtown Galveston. Nothing is more relaxing and enjoyable than strolling through the streets, or sitting outside at one of its many bars, coffee shops or restaurants and just letting the world drift by. Downtown Galveston is THE place to go for many of the activities, and experiences that are unique to The Magical Island Kingdom, and it is also the locale for special events such as Mardi Gras, Dickens on the Strand, and the Lone Star Biker Rally. The area of the Downtown, south of Church (Avenue F), is more residential in nature, and also includes Central Park and the old Galveston County Courthouse, as well as several churches. Downtown Self-Guided Tour  The Stewart Title Building (1882); 220 22nd Street The Downtown neighborhood runs from the Harbor to Broadway (Avenue J), and from 19th to 25th Streets. The Strand National Historic District has its boundaries at Harborside Drive (Avenue A), Market (Avenue D), 20th Street and 25th Street. The East End
 The Jacob Sonnentheil House (1887); 1826 Sealy This neighborhood is made up of the large residential area east of Downtown Galveston. Many of the first residents of the new city chose to build their houses in the East End, with its relatively higher land, and its convenient access to the Downtown area. More affluent people chose to build in the area adjacent to Downtown, and closest to Broadway, so as you move further north and east, there is a greater variety of residential dwellings. Some are nearly as grand as those near Broadway, but many were built for the working class, and are smaller in scale, and much less opulent! At the far north east corner of this neighborhood is the University of Texas Medical School complex (UTMB). This area is dominated by UTMB, which includes some historical buildings on campus, such as Old Red. In 1971, 40 blocks of the East End became the City’s first historic district. It later added an additional 18 blocks, so that The East End Historic District now covers a large portion of what was, and is, the most prestigious residential area in the City. This is the place where many of the most prominent citizens of 19th-Century Galveston chose to build their homes. East End Self-Guided Tour  The Joseph Robertson House (1894); 1212 Sealy The East End runs from 19th to 6th Street, and from the south side of Broadway (Avenue J) to Harborside Drive (Avenue A). The East End Historic District runs roughly from 19th Street to 10th Street, and from the south side of Broadway (Avenue J) to Market (Avenue D); with some areas pushing as far north as The Strand (Avenue B). San Jacinto
 The Marcus McLemore House (1869-70) As the neighborhood with the longest frontage on the Gulf of Mexico, San Jacinto was also the heart of the development on the beach, and Galveston’s tourist industry. This area, that we call Beach Central, was located where 25th Street met the Gulf, so it straddled the boundary between two neighborhoods; San Jacinto and Kempner Park. Beach Central Self-Guided Tour When the 1900 Storm devastated Galveston, San Jacinto took the worst hit! It is estimated that the land area of this neighborhood extended about four blocks further south, than it currently does, because that much of it was reclaimed by the Gulf, during The Storm. The houses, and other structures, nearest the beach suffered more complete destruction than in any other neighborhood! As this debris was piled up, and pushed inland, it formed a natural breakwater, or seawall that eventually saved the rest of the city from more complete destruction. A large percentage of the 6,000 people that died that day lived in San Jacinto. On 13 November 1885, a fire started at an ironworks at 17th Street and The Strand (Avenue B). It quickly spread through the East End residential area, and then it moved south of Broadway (Avenue J), where it destroyed 20 city blocks between 17th and 21st Streets. Most of these properties were rebuilt within a year, which gave them a new architectural consistency, and prominence. The area that burned, and was then rebuilt, forms the most contiguous area of prime real estate within San Jacinto, and it is now the heart of the Lost Bayou Historic District. The San Jacinto Self-Guided Tour  Engine House #5 (1891); 1614 Avenue K The San Jacinto neighborhood forms the shape of a triangle between 23rd Street, Broadway (Avenue J) and Seawall Boulevard. The Lost Bayou Historic District has its boundaries at 16th and 21st Streets, and Avenues K and M 1/2. Beach Central runs from 25th Street to 20th Street along the Seawall. Kempner
Park
 The John H. Hutchings House (1859/1892); 2816 Avenue O Like San Jacinto, Kempner Park lies south of Broadway. It also started with the regular grid pattern down to Avenue M, and outlots south of there to the Gulf, so its early history and uses were similar to those in San Jacinto. There were country estates, and commercial uses, such as cattle yards, slaughter houses, and cotton compresses, but the residential grid gradually came to resemble the older sections of the City. This neighborhood contains a very wide variety of housing, from the magnificent Hutching Estate, to simple shotgun houses for the working class. A portion of Kempner Park also developed into the City’s first predominately-Black neighborhood. Kempner Park was the site of the Ursuline Academy, which was a spectacular building designed by Nicholas J. Clayton; and the Ursuline Convent. Although not truly contained within the neighborhood boundaries, the early City cemeteries were located just outside, and adjacent to this area; south of Broadway, between 40th and 43rd Streets.  The Ursuline Academy Kempner Park also contains the two oldest houses on The Island; the country estates of Michael B. Menard (1838), and Samuel May Williams (1839). In addition, the German pavilion known as Garten-Verein (1880) sits in the city park that gives the neighborhood its name. Although there are several prominent residential sections in this neighborhood, probably the most prestigious has become the Silk Stocking Historic District. This was an area of light development before the 1900 Storm, and the east side of 25th Street was being used as a site for cotton compresses. When The Storm wiped out what had been there, this 25th-Street corridor was open for re-development. Much like the re-building of the area that became the Lost Bayou Historic District, after the fire of 1885; the new construction along the 25th-Street corridor produced a contiguous run of magnificent houses. Kempner Park Self-Guided Tour  Garten-Verein (1880); 2704 Avenue O The Kempner Park neighborhood runs from 23rd Street to 39th Street, and from Broadway (Avenue J) to the Seawall. The Silk Stocking Historic District forms an irregular rectangle with boundaries at roughly Avenue P, Avenue K, 23rd Street and 25th Street. The Industrial
District
 The Galveston Brewery (1895/1965); 33rd and Church This is the final area, in the historic center of Galveston. It lies west of Downtown Galveston, and north of Kempner Park. In the early days, industrial and port activities dominated the land closest to the Harbor, and west of 29th street. There were huge cotton compresses, the city gas and water works, and railroad yards. Although there were some grand houses along Broadway, and as far north as Postoffice, most of the residential dwellings, in this neighborhood, were built to accommodate people in the lowest economic classes, in and among the industrial structures that dominated the area. Of all the neighborhoods in The Magical Island Kingdom, The Industrial District has suffered the worst from urban renewal, and demolition, and has been helped the least by preservation, and rehabilitation efforts. Since no sizable contiguous area of historical significance remains, there is no historic district in this neighborhood. Industrial District Self-Guided Tour  The Galveston, Houston & Henderson Railroad Station (1904); 325 33rd Street The Industrial District runs from 25th Street to 39th Street, and from Broadway (Avenue J) to the Harbor.  The neighborhood tries to make a comeback: The Village Coffeehouse (????); 2828 Church Street  |
  Clayton's Galveston: The Architecture of Nicholas J. Clayton and His Contemporaries Click Pic for Info $45.00   The Galveston That Was Click Pic for Info $31.47   Galveston Architectural Guidebook Click Pic for Info $11.67   Historic Galveston Click Pic for Info $24.80   A History of Ashton Villa: A Family and Its House in Victorian Galveston, Texas Click Pic for Info $9.95   Daughter of Fortune : The Bettie Brown Story Click Pic for Info $12.95   Galveston: A History Click Pic for Info $12.97   Isaac's Storm Click Pic for Info $10.78   Bill Cherry's Galveston Memories Click Pic for Info $13.57   Mythic Galveston: Reinventing America's Third Coast Click Pic for Info $45.00   Galveston: A History of the Island Click Pic for Info $11.05   They Ain't Wanted Here Click Pic for Info $16.95   Battle on the Bay: The Civil War Struggle for Galveston Click Pic for Info $12.32   Cottonclads!: The Battle of Galveston and the Defense of the Texas Coast Click Pic for Info $11.95   Tracks to the Sea: Galveston and Western Railroad Development, 1866-1900 Click Pic for Info $29.95   Women, Culture, and Community : Religion and Reform in Galveston, 1880-1920 Click Pic for Info $80.00   Galveston: Island of Chance Click Pic for Info $25.00 |
||||
|
|
||||