DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of the official marker for Galveston County, and friend, this one covers a lot of ground — so settle in. After 1900, the Port of Galveston rose up to become the second largest in the United States. That alone would be a story worth pullin' over for.
But Galveston County never did just one thing at a time. Follow that deep-water channel they completed to Texas City in 1904, and you find the beginning of the Mainland's major petroleum and petrochemical plants, a tin smelter, and all the allied industries that came with them. Galveston's waterfront handled primarily dry cargo.
Texas City handled liquid petroleum and petrochemical cargoes. Two ports, two personalities, one county. And agriculture was no afterthought out here either.
Rice, corn, grain, oats, dairying, poultry, truck crops, cattle raising — Galveston County worked the land as hard as it worked the water. Now here's one that'll raise an eyebrow. In 1913, the U.S.
Army moved ten thousand men and eight of its twelve airplanes to Texas City. Eight of twelve — the entire American air fleet was a number you could count on two hands. And right there from Texas City, the first successful test flight was made all the way to San Antonio.
Aviation history, right on that stretch of coast. The county had its eye on protection too. In 1928, Galveston County began initial seawall protection for Texas City.
Then Hurricane Carla hit in 1961 with devastating effect, and construction began on a seventeen-mile protective system extending around Texas City and La Marque. When the coast reminds you what it's capable of, you build accordingly. But no amount of foreshadowing quite prepares you for April 16, 1947.
Disaster struck Texas City that day with the explosion of the French-flag steamer Grandcamp. The fires and explosions that followed left five hundred and seventy-six dead, four thousand persons injured, and seventy million dollars in property damage. Let those numbers sit for a moment.
They deserve that. Undismayed, the city rebuilt. That's what the marker says.
Two words carrying a weight most towns never have to lift. Over in Galveston proper, the economy ran deep and wide. The city was a large supplier of seafood, a major financial center.
It had a tea-blending plant, a rail and wire factory, grain elevators, a brewery, several large insurance companies, a ship repair yard, and many port-associated industries. There was even a servicing facility maintained there for nuclear-powered commercial vessels. And then there was the University of Texas Medical Branch.
Created in 1881, it earned the name the Mayo's of the South — a leading heart, surgical, and burns treatment center, and a major contributor to the Galveston economy. The Galveston County Memorial Hospital was constructed on the Mainland in 1952, adding another layer to the region's reach in medicine. In 1961, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration established its Manned Spacecraft Center at Clear Lake, right on the border of Galveston and Harris counties.
Many residents of Galveston County went to work in the space effort. Space vehicles and equipment were tested in nearby Galveston Bay — that same bay that had seen steamers and warships and hurricane surge. Galveston County.
Seafood and spacecraft. Cotton and petrochemicals. Catastrophe and rebuilding.
It is, by any honest measure, one of the most layered stretches of Texas coast there is.
What the marker says
After 1900, the Port of Galveston emerged as the second largest in the U. S. Following completion of a deep-water channel to Texas City in 1904, the Mainland's major petroleum and petrochemical plants, tin smelter and allied industries had their beginning. Galveston's waterfront handles primarily dry cargo while Texas City handles liquid petroleum and petrochemical cargoes. Agriculture production is also important to the Galveston County economy. Rice, corn, grain, oats, dairying, poultry, truck crops and cattle raising are leading items. In 1913, the U. S. Army moved 10,000 men and eight of its twelve airplanes to Texas City, with the first successful test flight made from Texas City to San Antonio. In 1928, Galveston County began initial seawall protection for Texas City. Following the devastating effect of hurricane Carla in 1961, construction began on a 17-mile protective system extending around Texas City and LaMarque. Disaster struck Texas City, April 16, 1947, with the explosion of the French-flag steamer "Grandcamp." Resulting fires and explosions left 576 dead, 4,000 persons injured and $70,000,000 property damage. Undismayed, the city rebuilt. In addition to its port facilities, Galveston is a large supplier of seafood, is a major financial center, has a tea-blending plant, a rail and wire factory, grain elevators, a brewery, several large insurance companies, a ship repair yard and many part-associated industries. A servicing facility for nuclear-powered commercial vessels is also maintained here.' A major contributor to the Galveston economy is the University of Texas Medical Branch. Created in 1881, the facility is known as "The Mayo's of the South" and is a leading heart, surgical and burns treatment center. The Galveston County Memorial Hospital was constructed on the Mainland in 1952. With the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Manned Spacecraft Center in 1961 at Clear Lake, bordering Galveston and Harris counties, many residents of Galveston County became employed in the space effort. Space vehicles and equipment were tested in nearby Galveston Bay.