Editing Galveston, Texas (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Galveston, Texas}}

===Exploration and 19th-century development===
[[File:Plan of the City of Galveston, Texas.jpg|thumb|Plan of the City of Galveston (c. 1845)]] [[File:Map of City of Galveston.jpg|thumb|Map of City of Galveston (c. 1904)]]
Indigenous inhabitants of Galveston Island called the island ''Auia''.<ref name=McComb1>{{cite book|last=McComb|first=David G.|title=Galveston: A History|location=Austin|publisher=University of Texas Press|chapter=The Edge of Time|year=1986|isbn=978-0292-720534}}</ref> Though there is no certainty regarding their route and their landings, [[Cabeza de Vaca]] and his crew were shipwrecked at a place he called "Isla de Malhado" in November 1528. This could have referred to Galveston Island or [[San Luis Pass (Galveston Island)|San Luis Island]].<ref name=chipman>{{Cite web|series=The Handbook of Texas Online |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |first=Donald E. |last=Chipman |title=Malhado Island |date=June 15, 2010 |access-date=January 17, 2020 |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rrm01}}</ref>
During his charting of the Gulf Coast in 1785, the Spanish explorer José de Evia labeled the water features surrounding the island "Bd. de Galvestown" and "Bahia de Galvestowm" [sic]. He was working under the orders of Bernardo de Gálvez. In his early chart, he calls the western end of the island "Isla de San Luis" and the eastern end "Pt. de Culebras". Evia did not label the island itself on his map of 1799. Just five years later [[Alexander von Humboldt]] borrowed the place names Isla de San Luis, Pte. De Culebras, and Bahia de Galveston. Stephen F. Austin followed his predecessors in the use of "San Luis Island", but introduced "Galveston" to refer to the little village at the east end of the island. Evidence of the name Galveston Island appears on the 1833 David H. Burr.<ref name=McComb1/>

The island first permanent European settlements were constructed around 1816 by the [[pirate]] [[Louis-Michel Aury]] to support Mexico's rebellion against Spain. In 1817, Aury returned from an unsuccessful raid against Spain to find Galveston occupied by the pirate [[Jean Lafitte]].<ref name="HTOAURY">{{Cite web|title=Aury, Louis Michel |series=Handbook of Texas Online |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |first=Harris Gaylord |last=Warren |access-date=January 12, 2020 |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fau04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709204001/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fau04 |archive-date=July 9, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Lafitte organized Galveston into a pirate "kingdom" he called "Campeche", anointing himself the island's "head of government".<ref name="HTOLAFITTE">{{Cite web|title=Lafitte, Jean |work=Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association |author=Harris Gaylord Warren |access-date=October 3, 2009 |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fla12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119031432/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fla12 |archive-date=November 19, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Lafitte remained in Galveston until 1821, when the [[United States Navy]] forced him and his raiders off the island.<ref name="HTOLAFITTE"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Legend of Jean Lafitte |work=Kemah Historical Society |author=Jimmie Walker |access-date=October 3, 2009 |url=http://www.kemahhistoricalsociety.net/legend1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417173744/http://www.kemahhistoricalsociety.net/legend1.html |archive-date=April 17, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1825 the [[Congress of Mexico]] established the [[Port of Galveston]] and in 1830 erected a [[customs house]].<ref name="WLDPORT">{{Cite web|title=Port of Galveston |work=World Port Source |access-date=October 3, 2009 |url=http://www.worldportsource.com/ports/USA_TX_Port_of_Galveston_34.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090531161741/http://www.worldportsource.com/ports/USA_TX_Port_of_Galveston_34.php |archive-date=May 31, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Galveston served as the capital of the [[Republic of Texas]] when in 1836 the [[Acting president|interim]] president [[David G. Burnet]] relocated his government there.<ref name="WLDPORT"/> In 1836, the French-Canadian [[Michel Branamour Menard]] and several associates purchased {{convert|4,605|acre|km2}} of land for $50,000 to found the town that would become the modern city of Galveston.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Menard, Michel Branamour |work=Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association |access-date=October 4, 2009 |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fme09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709190311/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fme09 |archive-date=July 9, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Galveston Collection |work=Texas Archival Resources Online, University of Houston |access-date=October 4, 2009 |url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uhsc/00029/hsc-00029.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501222651/http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uhsc/00029/hsc-00029.html |archive-date=May 1, 2008}}</ref><ref name="ISSTORM">{{Cite web|title=History of Galveston |work=Isaac's Storm, Random House |access-date=October 3, 2009 |url=http://www.randomhouse.com/features/isaacsstorm/greatstorm/historygalveston.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028044257/http://www.randomhouse.com/features/isaacsstorm/greatstorm/historygalveston.html |archive-date=October 28, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> As Anglo-Americans migrated to the city, they brought along or purchased [[Slavery in the United States|enslaved]] [[African-Americans]], some of whom worked domestically or on the waterfront, including on riverboats.

In 1839, the City of Galveston adopted a charter and was incorporated by the Congress of the [[Republic of Texas]].<ref name="ISSTORM"/><ref name="HTOGAL">{{Cite web|title=Galveston Island |work=Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association |access-date=October 3, 2009 |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rrg02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101109025620/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rrg02 |archive-date=November 9, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The city was by then a burgeoning [[port of entry]] and attracted many new residents in the 1840s and later among the flood of [[German Americans#Texas|German immigrants to Texas]], including Jewish merchants.<ref>[http://www.isjl.org/history/archive/tx/galveston.html "Galveston, Texas"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111028165340/http://www.isjl.org/history/archive/tx/galveston.html |date=October 28, 2011}}, ''Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities''</ref> Together with ethnic Mexican residents, these groups tended to oppose slavery, support the Union during the Civil War, and join the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] after the war.

During this expansion, the city had many "firsts" in the state, with the founding of institutions and adoption of inventions: post office (1836), naval base (1836), Texas chapter of a [[Freemasons|Masonic]] order (1840); cotton compress (1842), Catholic [[parochial school]] (Ursuline Academy) (1847), insurance company (1854), and gas lights (1856).<ref name="ISSTORM"/><ref name="Barrington, Carol; Kearney, Sydney 2006 241">{{Cite book|title=Day Trips from Houston: Getaway Ideas for the Local Traveler |page=241 |author1=Barrington, Carol |author2=Kearney, Sydney |year=2006 |publisher=Globe Pequot |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=euz4fbCDlLYC |isbn=0-7627-3867-7}}</ref>

During the [[American Civil War]], [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] forces under [[Major General]] [[John B. Magruder]] attacked and expelled occupying [[Union Army|Union]] troops from the city in January 1863 in the [[Battle of Galveston]].<ref name="HTOGBAT">{{Cite web|title=Galveston, Battle of |work=Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association |author=Alwyn Barr |access-date=October 3, 2009 |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qeg01 |author-link=Alwyn Barr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101107164112/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qeg01 |archive-date=November 7, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> On June 19, 1865, two months after the [[Lee's surrender|end of the war]] and almost three years after the issuance of the [[Emancipation Proclamation]], General [[Gordon Granger]] of the Union Army informed the enslaved people of Texas that they were now free.<ref>{{Cite web|date=June 13, 2021 |title=Juneteenth and General Order No. 3 |url=https://www.galvestonhistory.org/news/juneteenth-and-general-order-no-3 |access-date=September 17, 2021 |website=Galveston Historical Foundation |language=en-US |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917214151/https://www.galvestonhistory.org/news/juneteenth-and-general-order-no-3 |url-status=live}}</ref> This news was transmitted via [[General Order No. 3]], an event now commemorated on the [[Federal holidays in the United States|federal holiday]] of [[Juneteenth]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Featured Document Display: The Emancipation Proclamation and Juneteenth |url=https://museum.archives.gov/featured-document-display-emancipation-proclamation-and-juneteenth |access-date=September 17, 2021 |website=National Archives Museum |language=en |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917214153/https://museum.archives.gov/featured-document-display-emancipation-proclamation-and-juneteenth |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Biden signs bill making Juneteenth, marking end of slavery, a federal holiday |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-signs-bill-making-juneteenth-marking-end-slavery/story?id=78335485 |access-date=September 17, 2021 |website=ABC News |language=en |archive-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917214152/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-signs-bill-making-juneteenth-marking-end-slavery/story?id=78335485 |url-status=live}}</ref>

After the Civil War, Galveston mandated street improvements and construction standards. The city required property owners facing commercial streets to construct and maintain sidewalks of wooden planks or bricks, or pay an assessment to the city for the construction of the same. During the same period, the city drew a boundary known as a "fire zone", within which new buildings could not be constructed of wood.<ref>Robinson (1981), p. 89.</ref>

In 1867 Galveston suffered a [[yellow fever]] epidemic; about 1800 people died in the city.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Southern Family in White & Black: The Cuneys of Texas |author=Hales, Douglas |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |year=2003 |pages=18–19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VtaZVBagK7sC |isbn=1-58544-200-3 |access-date=November 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102052845/https://books.google.com/books?id=VtaZVBagK7sC |archive-date=January 2, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> These occurred in waterfront and river cities throughout the 19th century, as did [[cholera]] epidemics.

[[File:Beach hotel galveston.jpg|thumb|right|[[Beach Hotel (Galveston)|The Beach Hotel]] catered to vacationers until a fire in 1898.]]

The city's progress continued through the [[Reconstruction era]] with numerous "firsts": construction of the opera house (1870), and orphanage (1876), installation of telephone lines (1878) and electric lights (1883).<ref name="ISSTORM"/><ref name="Barrington, Carol; Kearney, Sydney 2006 241"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=History: Galveston's Colorful Past |work=Galveston Chamber of Commerce |access-date=October 3, 2009 |url=http://www.galvestonchamber.com/custom2.asp?pageid=198 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608021021/http://www.galvestonchamber.com/custom2.asp?pageid=198 |archive-date=June 8, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The History of Galveston |work=Wyndham Hotels |access-date=October 3, 2009 |url=http://www.wyndham.com/hotels/GLSHG/historyofgalveston/main.wnt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100428091700/http://www.wyndham.com/hotels/GLSHG/historyofgalveston/main.wnt |archive-date=April 28, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Having attracted [[freedmen]] from rural areas, in 1870 the city had a black population that totaled 3,000,<ref>Hales (2003), ''Southern Family in White and Black'', p. 15</ref> made up mostly of former slaves but also by persons who were [[free people of color|free men of color]] and educated before the war. Blacks comprised nearly 25% of the city's population of 13,818 that year.<ref>US 1870 Census</ref>

During the post–Civil War period, leaders such as George T. Ruby and [[Norris Wright Cuney]], who headed the [[Texas Republican Party]] and promoted [[civil rights]] for [[freedmen]], helped to dramatically improve educational and employment opportunities for blacks in Galveston and in Texas.<ref>{{cite book|author1-link=Merline Pitre |author=Pitre, Merline |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fcu20 |title=Cuney, Norris Wright |work=Handbook of Texas |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=October 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101221144035/http://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fcu20 |archive-date=December 21, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Black Unionism in the Industrial South |author=Obadele-Starks, Ernest |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |year=2001 |pages=39–44 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4BvbD7rusAAC |isbn=0-89096-912-4 |access-date=October 17, 2020 |archive-date=April 28, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428070139/https://books.google.com/books?id=4BvbD7rusAAC |url-status=live}}</ref> Cuney established his own business of stevedores and a union of black dockworkers to break the white monopoly on dock jobs. Galveston was a cosmopolitan city and one of the more successful during Reconstruction; the [[Freedmen's Bureau]] was headquartered here. German families sheltered teachers from the North, and hundreds of freedmen were taught to read. Its business community promoted progress, and immigrants stayed after arriving at this port of entry.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Southern Family in White & Black: The Cuneys of Texas |author=Hales, Douglas |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |year=2003 |pages=15–16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VtaZVBagK7sC |isbn=1-58544-200-3 |access-date=November 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102052845/https://books.google.com/books?id=VtaZVBagK7sC |archive-date=January 2, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

By the end of the 19th century, the city of Galveston had a population of 37,000. Its position on the natural harbor of [[Galveston Bay]] along the Gulf of Mexico made it the center of trade in Texas. It was one of the nation's largest cotton ports, in competition with [[New Orleans]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Galveston Wharves |work=Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association |author=Edward Coyle Sealy |access-date=September 13, 2009 |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/etg01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101107163407/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/etg01 |archive-date=November 7, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Throughout the 19th century, the port city of Galveston grew rapidly and the Strand was considered the region's primary business center. For a time, the Strand was known as the "Wall Street of the [[American South|South]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.durangotexas.com/eyesontexas/TexasRegions/GulfCoast/galveston.htm |title=Gulf Coast Region: Galveston Texas |publisher=Eyes On Texas |access-date=September 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926171938/http://www.durangotexas.com/eyesontexas/TexasRegions/GulfCoast/galveston.htm |archive-date=September 26, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In the late 1890s, the government constructed [[Fort Crockett]] defenses and coastal artillery batteries in Galveston and along the Bolivar Roads. In February 1897, the {{USS|Texas|1892|6}} (nicknamed Old Hoodoo), the first commissioned [[battleship]] of the United States Navy, visited Galveston. During the festivities, the ship's officers were presented with a $5,000 silver service, adorned with various Texas motifs, as a gift from the state's citizens.

===Hurricane of 1900 and recovery===
{{Further|1900 Galveston hurricane|Open Era of Galveston}}

On September 8, 1900, the island was struck by a devastating [[tropical cyclone|hurricane]].<ref name="HTOSTORM">{{Cite web|title=Galveston Hurricane of 1900 |work=Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association |author=John Edward Weems |access-date=October 4, 2009 |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ydg02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101107164334/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ydg02 |archive-date=November 7, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> This [[Galveston Hurricane of 1900|event]] holds the record as the United States' deadliest [[natural disaster]].<ref name="HTOSTORM"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=Nation's deadliest natural disaster |work=Editor & Publisher |author=Joe Strupp |date=September 4, 2000 |access-date=October 3, 2009 |url=http://www.allbusiness.com/services/business-services-miscellaneous-business/4729386-1.html}}{{Dead link|date=April 2012|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> The city was devastated, and an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 people on the island were killed.<ref name="HTOSTORM"/> Following the storm, a {{convert|10|mi|adj=on}} long, {{convert|17|foot|m}} high [[Galveston Seawall|seawall]] was built to protect the city from floods and hurricane storm surges. A team of engineers including [[Henry Martyn Robert]] ([[Robert's Rules of Order]]) designed the plan to raise much of the existing city to a sufficient elevation behind a seawall so that confidence in the city could be maintained. [[File:Sunset Route, Sea Wall, Galveston, Texas.jpg|thumb|right|Sunset Route, Seawall, Galveston, Texas (postcard, c. 1907)]]

The city developed the city commission form of [[Municipal government|city government]], known as the "[[City commission government|Galveston Plan]]", to help expedite recovery.<ref name="texashandbook">{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/moc01 |work=Handbook of Texas Online |title=Commission Form of City Government |access-date=October 15, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101113011301/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/moc01 |archive-date=November 13, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Despite attempts to draw investment to the city after the hurricane, Galveston never returned to its levels of national importance or prosperity. Development was also hindered by the construction of the [[Houston Ship Channel]], which brought the [[Port of Houston]] into competition with the natural harbor of the [[Port of Galveston]] for sea traffic. Finally, the [[Galveston Seawall|Seawall]] itself created an insurmountable problem: passive erosion resulting in the gradual disappearance of the once-wide beach and the resort business with it. "Within twenty years, the city had lost one hundred yards of sand. People who once watched auto racing on a wide beach were left with a narrow strip of sand at low tide and a gloomy vista of waves on rocks when the tide was high."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/d/dean-tide.html |title=Against the Tide |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=June 19, 2020 |archive-date=June 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620021915/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/d/dean-tide.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

To further its recovery and rebuild its population, Galveston actively solicited [[Port of Galveston immigration|immigration]]. Through the efforts of [[Henry Cohen (rabbi)|Rabbi Henry Cohen]] and [[Congregation B'nai Israel (Galveston, Texas)|Congregation B'nai Israel]], Galveston became the focus of an immigration plan called the [[Galveston Movement]] that, between 1907 and 1914, diverted roughly 10,000 [[Eastern Europe]]an [[Jewish]] immigrants from the usual destinations of the crowded cities of the [[Northeastern United States]].<ref name="tshaonline.org">{{Cite web|title=Galveston Movement |work=Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association |access-date=October 3, 2009 |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/umg01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101107164324/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/umg01 |archive-date=November 7, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Additionally numerous other immigrant groups, including [[Greece|Greeks]], [[Italy|Italians]] and [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russian Jews]], came to the city during this period.<ref name="Hardwick, p. 13">Hardwick (2002), p. 13</ref> This immigration trend substantially altered the ethnic makeup of the island, as well as many other areas of Texas and the western U.S. Unfortunately, just as the island was starting to recover from the devastation caused by the first flood, a second one struck in August, 1915, thanks to a major hurricane that originated in the central Atlantic, tore through the Caribbean, and then left a long trail of destruction across the Gulf of Mexico before it dissipated in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, nearly three weeks later. While the newly constructed seawall spared the island the worst, over 400 Galvestonians died, and damages totaled $30 million USD, equivalent to $903 million in 2023. Thus, in less than a single generation Galveston went from being Texas' most populous (and most important) city to being a tragic footnote to a century of frontier violence, urban lawlessness and civic greed, throughout the state. Apart from reducing Galveston to rubble, the one-two punch that nature dealt the island stiffened the spines of those who survived. As Gary Cartwright observes (see fn 40), residents prided themselves on having stayed behind, though it meant being marooned for decades. They became cynical, hard-boiled, and had no use for outsiders (including Texans, and those who fled to the comparative safety of East Texas) who either pitied or prayed for them. Indifference may have masked anxiety, but it enabled those who committed themselves to Galveston to endure their fate with a measure of dignity, even when they were forced to compromise with conventional morality in order to do so. Thus Galveston became a unique port of call, even as automobile travel became ubiquitous, and ended its isolation from the rest of the region. Galveston has a worldview all its own, as if the Zeitgeist had decided to linger awhile, so that past and present might become one, and the forgotten boom town that went bust, not once but twice, might yet be resurrected, lifting the burden of history while daring fate.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Though the storms stalled economic development and the city of Houston developed as the region's principal metropolis, Galveston economic leaders recognized the need to diversify from the traditional port-related industries. In 1905 [[William Lewis Moody, Jr.]] and [[Isaac H. Kempner]], members of two of Galveston's leading families founded the [[American National Insurance Company]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Galveston: A History of the Island |author=Gary Cartwright |publisher=TCU Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RFRu8kYThEcC&pg=PA196 |year=1998 |isbn=0-689-11991-7 |access-date=October 17, 2020 |archive-date=July 4, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704190742/http://books.google.com/books?id=RFRu8kYThEcC&lpg=PA196 |url-status=live}}</ref> Two years later, Moody established the City National Bank, which would become the [[Moody National Bank]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Annual Financials report, 2004–2005 |work=The Moody Foundation |access-date=October 3, 2009 |url=http://www.moodyf.org/downloads/annual-financials-2004-5.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090529203656/http://www.moodyf.org/downloads/annual-financials-2004-5.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 29, 2009}}</ref><ref name="anico.com">{{Cite web|title=American National Announces Fourth Quarter 2007 Results |work=American National Insurance Company |access-date=October 3, 2009 |url=http://www.anico.com/Investor%20Relations/pdfs/ANICO4Q2007Earnings.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001040955/http://www.anico.com/Investor%20Relations/pdfs/ANICO4Q2007Earnings.pdf |archive-date=October 1, 2011}}</ref>

During the 1920s and 1930s, the city re-emerged as a major tourist destination.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Galveston Hotel – Hotel Galvez to Reopen October 15 |work=Bloomberg.com |access-date=September 26, 2009 |date=October 8, 2008 |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=WYN%3AUS&sid=aH1GgvGGU1vs |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025225909/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=WYN:US&sid=aH1GgvGGU1vs |archive-date=October 25, 2012 |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Preserve America Community: Galveston, Texas |access-date=September 26, 2009 |url=http://www.preserveamerica.gov/PAcommunity-GalvestonTX.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624151247/http://www.preserveamerica.gov/PAcommunity-GalvestonTX.html |archive-date=June 24, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> Under the influence of [[Sam Maceo]] and [[Rosario Maceo]], the city exploited the [[Prohibition in the United States|prohibition]] of liquor and gambling in clubs like the [[Balinese Room]], which offered entertainment to wealthy Houstonians and other out-of-towners. Combined with prostitution, which had existed in the city since well before the American Civil War,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Shelton|first=Robert S.|title=On Empire's Shore: Free and Unfree Workers in Galveston, Texas, 1840-1860|journal=[[Journal of Social History]]|date=2007|jstor=4491945|volume=40|number=3|pages=717–730|doi=10.1353/jsh.2007.0070 }}</ref> Galveston became known as the "sin city" of the Gulf.<ref name="hotgalv">{{Cite web|title=Galveston, TX |work=Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association |author=David G. McComb |access-date=September 26, 2009 |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hdg01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080302031036/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/GG/hdg1.html |archive-date=March 2, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Galvestonians accepted and supported the illegal activities, often referring to their island as the "[[Free State of Galveston]]".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Is Casino Gambling in the Cards for Galveston? |work=Houston Press |author=John Nova Lomax |date=March 3, 2009 |access-date=September 26, 2009 |url=http://www.houstonpress.com/2009-03-05/news/iis-casino-gambling-in-the-cards-for-galveston/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090513044236/http://www.houstonpress.com/2009-03-05/news/iis-casino-gambling-in-the-cards-for-galveston|archive-date=May 13, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|title=The Press: Gambling in Texas |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=January 12, 1952 |access-date=September 26, 2009 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,817727,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222122644/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,817727,00.html |archive-date=December 22, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The island had entered what would later become known as the "open era".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Energy Metropolis: An Environmental History of Houston and the Gulf Coast |author1=Melosi, Martin V. |author2=Pratt, Joseph A. |year=2007 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KtpwM38sPj0C |isbn=978-0-8229-4335-8 |access-date=October 17, 2020 |archive-date=January 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107133637/https://books.google.com/books?id=KtpwM38sPj0C |url-status=live}}</ref>

The 1930s and 1940s brought much change to the Island City. During [[World War II]], the Galveston Municipal Airport, predecessor to [[Scholes International Airport]], was re-designated a U.S. [[United States Army Air Corps|Army Air Corps]] base and named "Galveston Army Air Field". In January 1943, Galveston Army Air Field was officially activated with the [[46th Test Wing|46th Bombardment Group]] serving an [[anti-submarine]] role in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1942, William Lewis Moody, Jr., along with his wife Libbie Shearn Rice Moody, established the [[Moody Foundation]], to benefit "present and future generations of Texans". The foundation, one of the largest in the United States, would play a prominent role in Galveston during later decades, helping to fund numerous civic and health-oriented programs.<ref name="Handbook of Texas, Moody Foundation">{{Cite web|title=Moody Foundation |work=Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association |author=Robert E. Baker |access-date=October 3, 2009 |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vrm06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110215050133/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/vrm06 |archive-date=February 15, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===After World War II===
[[File:Texas - Galveston - NARA - 68149339 (page 1) (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Damage after [[Hurricane Carla]], 1961]]
The end of the war drastically reduced military investment in the island. Increasing enforcement of gambling laws and the growth of [[Las Vegas, Nevada]], as a competitive center of gambling and entertainment put pressure on the gaming industry on the island.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Lone Star Lawmen |author=Utley Robert Marshall |publisher=Oxford |year=2007 |page=218 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G4hjclRksjQC |isbn=978-0-19-515444-3 |access-date=October 17, 2020 |archive-date=May 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503161913/https://books.google.com/books?id=G4hjclRksjQC |url-status=live}}</ref> Finally in 1957, [[Texas Attorney General]] [[Will Wilson (Texas politician)|Will Wilson]] and the [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Rangers]] began a massive campaign of raids that disrupted gambling and prostitution in the city.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Attorney General |work=Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association |author=James G. Dickson Jr. |access-date=September 26, 2009 |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/mba03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610181134/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/mba03 |archive-date=June 10, 2011 |url-status=dead}}<br />{{Cite web|title=The Daily News: Headlines |work=The Galveston County Daily News |access-date=September 26, 2009 |url=http://galvestondailynews.com/history.lasso?WCD=headlines.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100208223943/http://galvestondailynews.com/history.lasso?WCD=headlines.html |archive-date=February 8, 2010}}<br />{{Cite book|title=The Texas Sheriff: Lord of the County Line |author=Sitton, Thad |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8061-3471-0 |page=146}}<br />{{Cite journal |author1=Communications, Emmis |title=Grande Dame of the Gulf |journal=Texas Monthly |date=December 1983 |page=169 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LywEAAAAMBAJ |access-date=November 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527004843/https://books.google.com/books?id=LywEAAAAMBAJ |archive-date=May 27, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> As these vice industries crashed, so did tourism, taking the rest of the Galveston economy with it.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Energy Metropolis: An Environmental History of Houston and the Gulf Coast |author1=[[Martin V. Melosi|Melosi, Martin V.]] |author2=Pratt, Joseph A. |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |year=2007 |page=202 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vm1j3XiZiWMC |isbn=978-0-8229-4335-8}}</ref> Neither the economy nor the culture of the city was the same afterward.<ref name="TM: Grande Dame, 216">{{Cite web|title=Grande Dame of the Gulf |work=Texas Monthly |author=Paul Burka |date=December 1, 1983 |access-date=September 27, 2009 |url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/1983-12-01/feature5-3.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604051626/http://www.texasmonthly.com/1983-12-01/feature5-3.php |archive-date=June 4, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Expensive Stilt Houses on Galveston's East Beach.jpg|210px|thumb|Expensive Stilt Houses on Galveston's East Beach]]
[[File:Galveston (Texas).jpg|thumb|right|Downtown Galveston as viewed from the air]]
[[File:Lets Play Chess Strand Galveston.jpg|thumb|Playing chess on the Strand]]

In 1947, buildings in the city were damaged when a ship carrying 2,200 tons of [[ammonium nitrate]] exploded at the nearby [[Port of Texas City]], in what became known as the [[Texas City disaster]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.texascity-library.org/page/history.1947.explosion1 |title=The First Explosion – 1947 Texas City Disaster |website=www.texascity-library.org |access-date=August 4, 2020 |archive-date=September 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918165102/http://www.texascity-library.org/page/history.1947.explosion1 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The island's economy began a long stagnation. Many businesses relocated off the island during this period, but health care, insurance, and financial industries continue to be strong contributors to the economy. By 1959, the city of Houston had long outpaced Galveston in population and economic growth. Beginning in 1957, the Galveston Historical Foundation began its efforts to preserve historic buildings.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Energy metropolis: an environmental history of Houston and the Gulf Coast |author1=Melosi, Martin V. |author2=Pratt, Joseph A. |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |year=2007 |page=202 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KtpwM38sPj0C |isbn=978-0-8229-4335-8 |access-date=October 17, 2020 |archive-date=January 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200107133637/https://books.google.com/books?id=KtpwM38sPj0C |url-status=live}}</ref> The 1966 book ''The Galveston That Was'' helped encourage the preservation movement. Restoration efforts financed by motivated investors, notably Houston businessman [[George P. Mitchell]], gradually developed the [[Strand Historic District]] and reinvented other areas. A new, family-oriented tourism emerged in the city over many years.

In September 1961, [[Hurricane Carla]] struck the city, generating an F4 tornado that killed eight and injured 200.

With the 1960s came the expansion of higher education in Galveston. Already home to the University of Texas Medical Branch, the city got a boost in 1962 with the creation of the Texas Maritime Academy, predecessor of [[Texas A&M University at Galveston]]; and by 1967, a [[community college]], [[Galveston College]], had been established.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The History of Galveston College |work=Galveston College |access-date=October 4, 2009 |url=http://www.gc.edu/gc/GC_History.asp?SnID=1413310913 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090921222800/http://www.gc.edu/gc/GC_History.asp?SnID=1413310913 |archive-date=September 21, 2009}}<br>{{Cite web |title=Students brave the simulated seas |work=The Galveston County Daily News |author=Rhiannon Myers |date=November 14, 2007 |access-date=September 13, 2009 |url=http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=9751907adb742ca7 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928061037/http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=9751907adb742ca7 |archive-date=September 28, 2011}}</ref>

In the 2000s, property values rose after expensive projects were completed,<ref>Novak, Shonda [https://web.archive.org/web/20060813121057/http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/realestate/07/22coastal.html "Growth Wave Hits Galveston"]. ''[[Austin American-Statesman]]''. July 22, 2006.</ref> and demand for second homes by the wealthy increased. It has made it difficult for middle-class workers to find affordable housing on the island.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Workers in Galveston increasingly can't afford to live there |work=Houston Chronicle |author=Harvey Rice |date=February 22, 2007 |access-date=October 4, 2009 |url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2007_4291019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111224152735/http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=2007_4291019 |archive-date=December 24, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Hurricane Ike]] made landfall on Galveston Island in the early morning of September 13, 2008, as a category-2 hurricane with winds of 110 miles per hour. Damage was extensive to buildings along the seawall.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ike Insured Damage Estimates Range from $6B to $18B |work=Texas / South Central News, Insurance Journal |date=September 15, 2008 |access-date=October 3, 2009 |url=http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2008/09/15/93698.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090316181528/http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2008/09/15/93698.htm |archive-date=March 16, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

After the storm, the island was rebuilt with investments in tourism and shipping, and continued emphasis on higher education and health care, notably the addition of the [[Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier]] and the replacement of the [[Bascule bridge|bascule]]-type [[Drawbridge (American English)|drawbridge]] on the railroad causeway with a [[Vertical-lift bridge|vertical-lift]]-type drawbridge to allow heavier freight.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.texastribune.org/2013/04/26/galveston-still-healing-5-years-after-hurricane-ik/ |title=Galveston Still Healing 5 Years After Hurricane Ike |work=The Texas Tribune |access-date=September 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926091222/http://www.texastribune.org/2013/04/26/galveston-still-healing-5-years-after-hurricane-ik/ |archive-date=September 26, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Jervis |first=Rick |title=After rebuilding from Hurricane Ike, Galveston deals with oil spill |website=USA TODAY |date=March 25, 2014 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/25/galveston-oil-spill-ike/6884693/ |access-date=September 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150914002356/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/25/galveston-oil-spill-ike/6884693/ |archive-date=September 14, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>