DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my take on what the official marker has to say about Texas City. Now settle in, because this one starts small — just a few families scattered along the bayshore sometime in the mid-1800s. No grand ambitions yet, no railroad, no port.
Just a handful of folks and a whole lot of water. Then in 1854, the federal government finished the Half Moon Shoal Lighthouse out near what would become the Texas City Dike, and that little beacon in the dark started drawing people closer. By 1878, enough of a village had taken shape that it earned itself a post office, operating under the name Shoal Point.
Not exactly a name that shakes the earth, but it was theirs. Then came 1891 and 1892, and a group of investors way up in Minnesota looked at a map, looked at that little spot called Shoal Point, and decided — that right there is where we build something. They tapped their friend Frank Davison to manage the venture, and before the year 1893 was out, the town had a new name — Texas City — and it had a hotel, a railroad station, a post office, and a six-mile-long channel project already underway.
Things were moving. Then 1900 arrived, and the storm arrived with it. Delays followed.
But delayed is not the same as stopped, and by 1905 an enlarged channel capable of receiving ocean-going vessels was complete. Then in 1920, construction of a tank farm set off decades of oil refining and petrochemical industrial development. The late 1930s brought rapid growth, and World War Two kept that momentum rolling — right up until 1947, when the disastrous port explosions brought a brief and terrible interruption.
But Texas City did not stop. Through the 1950s, as worldwide demand for oil by-products surged, the city's population nearly doubled — all the way to 32,000 people. And by 1992, Texas City had become Galveston County's largest mainland city.
From a few bayshore families to the biggest city on that mainland — that's not a story that crept along quietly. It moved like a ship through a freshly dredged channel, with purpose.
What the marker says
This community traces its origin to settlement by a few families along the bayshore in the mid-1800s. Completion in 1854 of the Half Moon Shoal Lighthouse, a Federal project near the present day Texas City Dike, hastened the formation of a village which in 1878 added a post office under the name Shoal Point. In 1891-1892 Minnesota investors chose Shoal Point as the future site of a port and industrial center and asked their friend Frank Davison to manage the venture. By the end of 1893 the town, renamed Texas City, had a hotel, railroad station, post office, and a 6-mile-long channel project underway. Despite delays created by the 1900 storm, an enlarged channel capable of receiving ocean going vessels was completed by 1905. Construction of a tank farm in 1920 initiated decades of oil refining and petrochemical industrial development. The city's rapid growth in the late 1930s and during World War Ii was briefly interrupted by the disastrous port explosions of 1947. Nevertheless, during the 1950s the city's population almost doubled to 32,000 people as the local economy responded to a surge in worldwide demand for oil by-products. By 1992 Texas City was Galveston County's largest mainland city.