Editing Bolivar Peninsula, Texas (section)

==History==
The peninsula was named in 1816 for [[Simón Bolívar]],<ref name="Handbook Texas"/> the famed Venezuelan political leader involved in the independence movements of [[Venezuela]], [[Colombia]], [[Peru]], [[Bolivia]], and other Latin American nations.
The pirates/privateers [[Jean Laffite]] and [[Louis-Michel Aury]] each used the Bolivar Peninsula as part of the pirate ''kingdom'' established around the Galveston Bay. The peninsula was part of an overland slave route between [[Louisiana]] and [[Galveston]].<ref name="Handbook Texas"/>
[[James Long (filibuster)|James Long]] based his operations on the peninsula since 1819 with the first establishment of Bolivar Peninsula,<ref name="Tx Historical">{{cite web | url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hgp08 | title=PORT BOLIVAR, TX | publisher=Texas State Historical Association | work=Handbook of Texas Online | access-date=2013-06-11 | author=A. Pat Daniels}}</ref> and Fort Las Casas was built in 1820.<ref name="Handbook Texas">{{cite web | url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rrb06 | title=BOLIVAR PENINSULA | publisher=Texas State Historical Association. | work=Handbook of Texas Online | access-date=2013-06-12}}</ref> Samuel D. Parr was responsible for starting the [[Port Bolivar, Texas#History|settlement in 1838]] that would later become Port Bolivar.<ref name="Handbook Texas"/>

The [[Point Bolivar Lighthouse]] (which is now privately owned and not open to the public) has an important history with the peninsula, built in 1872. The lighthouse is located on the western end of the peninsula, directly across from Fort Travis  seawolf Park. Fort Travis in Bolivar Peninsula, a separate facility from Fort Travis in Galveston, was built with construction starting in 1898.<ref name="Crystal Beach" /><ref>{{cite web | url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqg20 | title=GULF AND INTER-STATE RAILWAY | publisher=Texas State Historical Association | work=Handbook of Texas Online | access-date=2013-06-11 | author=Wooster, Robert}}</ref>
The North [[Jetty]], extending from Bolivar Peninsula, of the entrance to Galveston Bay started being constructed in 1874.<ref name="Handbook Texas"/>
From 1896 to 1942, the Gulf & Interstate, a subsidiary of Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway, connected Beaumont to Galveston Island with aid of [[train ferry|train ferries]].<ref name="Crystal Beach">{{cite web | url=http://www.crystalbeach.com/travismarker.jpg | title=Fort Travis | publisher=Texas Historical Commission | access-date=2013-06-11}}</ref>
At one time the Bolivar Peninsula was called the "breadbasket of Galveston" and the "watermelon capital of Texas".<ref name="Handbook Texas"/>

[[Crystal Beach, Texas#History|Crystal Beach]] was incorporated from 1971 until 1987, and it has been the most populated community of the Bolivar Peninsula.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hvcba | title=Crystal Beach, TX | publisher=Texas State Historical Association | work=The Handbook of Texas Online | access-date=2013-06-12 | author=Daniels, Pat}}</ref>
On April 23, 1991, communities of Bolivar Peninsula received an enhanced [[9-1-1]] system which routes calls to proper dispatchers and allows dispatchers to automatically view the address of the caller.<ref>"[http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1991_778715 News briefs]." ''[[Houston Chronicle]]''. Tuesday April 23, 1991. A14.</ref> The Bolivar Peninsula suffered heavy damage from [[Effects of Hurricane Ike in Texas|Hurricane Ike]] that made landfall on the Texas coast on September 13, 2008.