Galveston, a port of entry and capital of Galveston co., Tex., is situated on the Gulf of Mexico and on an island at the mouth of a bay of its own name, about 300 miles (direct) W. by S. of New Orleans. It is on the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe, the International and Great Northern and other railroads. Lat. 29° 18' N. ; Ion. 94° 50' W. The island of Galveston, which separates the bay from the Gulf of Mexico, is about 30 miles in length and 3 miles in breadth. The surface is level and has a mean elevation of only 7 or 8 feet above the water. The bay extends north ward from the city to the mouth of the Trinity River, a distance of 35 miles, and varies in breadth from 12 to 18 miles. The harbor of Galveston, which is the best in the state, has 1 2 or 14 feet of water over the bar at low tide. Through this bar the United States government has cut a deep channel, flanked by stone jetties several miles in length. Galveston, the leading commercial city of Texas, although ranking only fourth in population among the cities of the state, is next to New Orleans the most important port on the Gulf of Mexico and is the sixth commercial port of the United States. Tho chief articles of export are cotton, wool, hides, grain, flour, and fruit. Steamships make regular passages from this port to New York, New Orleans, Key West, Havana, Vera Cruz, and various European, Asiatic, and South American ports. The quantity of cotton shipped hence in 1902 amounted to about 2,000,000 bales. The residence quarters of the city have luxuriant gardens ornamented with magnolias, oleanders, and other subtropical plants. The chief public edifices are the city-hall, custom-house, United States court-house, theatre, opera-house, public library, cotton exchange, Catholic cathedral, etc. Galveston has iron-foundries, machine-shops, planing-mills, cigar-factories, vast grain-elevators, and manufactures of ice, flour, rope, bagging, cotton-seed oil, and cotton-cake, etc. It is the seat of the University of St. Mary (Catholic), the medical department of the University of Texas, the St. Joseph's Academy, Academy of the Sacred Heart, and the Ursuline Convent and Academy. Galveston is a Catholic bishop's see. Pop. in 1860, 7307 ; in 1870, 13,818 ; in 1880, 22,248 ; in 1890, 29,084 ; in 1900, 37,789. The city was visited by a disastrous hurricane in Sept., 1900, which caused a loss of life of about 3000 and destruction of property amounting to upward of $20,000,000. Vast works have been constructed to guard against the recurrence of a similar catastrophe, and the level of the main portion of the city has been raised several feet.

Lippincotts New Gazetteer: A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer Or Geographical Dictionary of the World, Containing the Most Recent and Authentic Information Respecting the Countries, Cities, Towns, Resorts, Islands, Rivers, Mountains, Seas, Lakes, Etc., in Every Portion of the Globe, Part 1 Angelo Heilprin Louis Heilprin - January 1, 1916 J.B. Lippincott - Publisher

Visit Galveston, Texas, USA
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.