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Through most of the nineteenth century, Galveston was noted as the foremost port on the Texas Gulf Coast. Its history, however, was dramatically affected when the port and resort city was struck by a devastating hurricane on September 8, 1900. This storm came to be known as the greatest natural disaster in Texas history, having killed an estimated six thousand residents and destroyed approximately thirty-six hundred homes. The death and destruction was caused principally by the force of the extreme winds coupled with a fifteen-foot high tide, which swept over the entire city.
In the wake of the storm, Galveston leaders organized several distinct but related efforts to rebuild and protect their city. For one of these endeavors, the City Commission and County Commissioners' Court appointed a board of engineers to report on a means for protecting the city from a recurring disaster. The board, consisting of Brig. Gen. H. M. Robert, the former chief of U.S. Army Engineers, and Alfred Noble and H. C. Ripley, presented its formal report on January 25, 1902. It recommended the construction of a solid concrete wall over three miles long along the oceanfront of the city as a barrier to the sea, raising the grade of the city to reduce the danger from flooding, and the construction of a protected embankment behind the proposed concrete seawall.
The design proposed by the board was for a concrete gravity section sixteen feet wide at its base one foot above mean low water. The seaward face of the concrete structure was to be curved, with its upper portion vertical so that it would deflect large ocean waves upward to prevent them from passing over the wall into the city.
Galveston County undertook the construction of the massive concrete structure. The consent of the taxpayers was necessary for the project, and on March 20, 1902, in an overwhelming vote, the citizens approved a tax levy of 50 cents on each $100 valuation on property to pay interest and principal on bonds in the amount of $1.5 million to pay for the effort. On September 19, 1902, the county closed a contract with the firm of J. M. O'Rourke and Company of Denver to build the seawall. The first pile was driven at the foot of Sixteenth Street on October 27, 1902, and the immense project was completed almost two years later, on July 29, 1904.
The wall was built on a foundation of vertical wooden pilings, which were protected from undermining on the seaward side by wooden sheet pilings, which further were protected by stone riprap 3 feet thick and 27 feet wide. The concrete sections of seawall were built in two steps. First a base 16 feet wide and 3 feet thick was poured to provide a foundation for the section placed above it. This concrete base completely covered the tops of the wooden pilings. The upper portion of the seawall was built in 50-foot interlocking sections, which were reinforced with 1 1/4-inch square steel rods set within the concrete.
The magnitude of the project may be seen in the volume of material that went into the initial 3.5-mile section. Used in its construction were fifty-two hundred railway carloads of crushed granite, eighteen hundred carloads of sand, one thousand carloads of cement, twelve hundred carloads of round wooden pilings, four thousand carloads of wooden sheet pilings, thirty-seven hundred carloads of stone riprap, and five carloads of reinforcing steel.
Interesting machines were employed to mix and deliver the concrete for the seawall. These specially built mixing and handling machines moved behind and parallel to the long construction site on steel rails. The two machines consisted of double-deck cars measuring sixteen-by-thirty-four feet, which rolled on eight wheels. They carried on their lower decks steam boilers and engines as well as concrete mixers, and their upper decks provided working platforms. At the front end of the cars were twin derricks fitted with twenty-eight-foot booms, one handling raw materials and the other moving mixed concrete in one-yard batches. Raw materials consisting of portland cement, sand, and gravel were loaded onto the upper working level from adjacent railway cars; from there they were placed in measured amounts in the concrete mixers. The mixed concrete was dumped from the mixing machines into skips at track level. The skips filled with concrete were elevated by the second derrick to the actual places where mixed concrete was needed.
While the county seawall was being built along the oceanfront between the south jetty and Thirty-ninth street. Congress authorized the construction of another section of seawall along the front of the Fort Crockett Military Reservation, between Thirty-ninth and Fifty-third streets. This work followed the basic design of the county section and was conducted from December, 1904, to October, 1905.
The first test of the new protective structure came in 1915, when Galveston again was subjected to a severe tropical storm. This hurricane crossed the Texas coast about thirty miles southwest of Galveston, and the seawall proved the adequacy of its design by preventing a recurrence of the damage of fifteen years earlier. Only twelve residents lost their lives in the storm, and the total property loss was far, far less than in 1900. One of the remarkable incidents of the storm was the destruction of the schooner Allison Doura on the seawall. Caught about a hundred miles at sea from Galveston, the sailing vessel loaded with sisal was driven before the storm with her captain and crew helpless. The ship was thrown onto the seawall near Thirty-ninth Street, her two anchors catching in the toe of the wall and the schooner being pounded to pieces at its top. Fragments of the ship's hull, masts, and cargo were strewn all over the western portion of the city.
New sections of the seawall continued to be added. The first of these came in 1918, when an east extension to the structure was built by the federal government to run from Sixth Street to Fort San Jacinto for the protection of the military installation. Its progress was interrupted by a less intense storm in September, 1919, which prevented completion until March, 1921. Another extension 2,860 feet eastward across the Fort San Jacinto Reservation was made between May, 1923, and January, 1926. Galveston County built a 1,800-foot addition to the west end of the seawall in 1926 and 1927. This gave the wall a total length of 7.29 miles. Finally, in 1950 Congress authorized the construction of an additional 3-mile southwest extension of the seawall similar in design to the existing walls to protect the newer western portion of the city.
Beach sand at Galveston is essential for the protection of the toe of the seawall. Because of reduction in the amount of beach sand through the wave action of tropical storms after the construction of the first sections of seawall, an effort was initiated in the mid-1930s to augment the natural replenishment of beach sand through the construction of sheet steel pile groins (later rehabilitated with stone extending from the seawall into the surf). A series of thirteen of these groins, each five hundred feet long and fifteen hundred feet apart, was built between Twelfth and Fifty-ninth streets from 1936 to 1939. They have successfully caused the accumulation of sufficient quantities of beach material, most of it below mean low tide level, to keep the toe of the seawall well protected.
Today the Galveston Seawall remains the city's principal protection against the destructive forces of hurricanes. In addition to serving this function, it is one of the most often seen and most popular historic engineering works in the state. Because of its location on the sea front of a resort city, it is a very appealing place for social gatherings. It has been popular for bicycle riding, walking, sunbathing, and evening serenading for decades, and it will most likely remain so for decades to come.
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Building the Sea Wall, Galveston, Tex. (on reverse) No. 1073. Published by International Post Card Co., New York. 573. Made in Germany. (54514) Divided back. Postally unused. |
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Real Photo Postcard. No title on front. (on reverse) Cyko (circa 1904-1920's) Divided back. Postally unused. |
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Real Photo Postcard 78. Showing the construction of Sea Wall Galveston. Trube Photo. (on reverse) Divided back. Postally used. Jan. 14, 1909. |
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Galveston Seawall 3 miles of solid masonry, 16 feet base, 17 feet high above foundation. Publ. by Gust Feist Co. (on reverse) Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19 - 1898. Undivided back. Postally unused. Circa 1904. |
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THE BIG MIXER MIXING CONCRETE The Galveston Seawall 3 miles long, solid concrete, 16 ft. high, 16 ft. base, 5 ft. top, 27 ft. riprap in front. Clarke & Courts, Publishers, Galveston (on reverse) Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19th, 1898 Undivided back. Postally unused. Circa 1904. |
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THE SECTIONS ARE COMPLETED ALTERNATELY The Galveston Seawall 3 miles long, solid concrete, 16 ft. high, 16 ft. base, 5 ft. top, 27 ft. riprap in front. Clarke & Courts, Mfg. Stationers, Galveston (on reverse) Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19th, 1898 Undivided back. Postally used Aug. 27, 1904. |
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SCENE SHOWING RIPRAP AND FOUNDATION OF SEAWALL The Galveston Seawall 3 miles long, solid concrete, 16 ft. high, 16 ft. base, 5 ft. top, 27 ft. riprap in front. Clarke & Courts, Publishers, Galveston (on reverse) Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19th, 1898 Undivided back. Postally unused. Circa 1904. |
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A VIEW FROM THE BEACH The Galveston Seawall 3 miles long, solid concrete, 16 ft. high, 16 ft. base, 5 ft. top, 27 ft. riprap in front. Clarke & Courts, Mfg. Stationers, Galveston (on reverse) Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19th, 1898 Undivided back. Postally unused. Circa 1904. |
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THE GALVESTON SEAWALL Of solid masonry. When completed will be three miles long by 16 base and 17 feet high above foundation. From the Fellman Dry Goods Co., Galveston, Texas. (on reverse) Authorized by Act of Congress of May 13th, 1898 Undivided back. Postally unused. Circa 1903. |
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GALVESTON'S SEA WALL - 17 FEET HIGH, OVER 4 MILES LONG Publisher E. H. Labadie. Photo, Naschke (on reverse)Undivided back. Postally unused. Circa 1905. |
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DERRICK LAYING RIPRAP. A 1500 LB. ROCK IN MID AIR The Galveston Seawall 3 miles long, solid concrete, 16 ft. high, 16 ft. base, 5 ft. top, 27 ft. riprap in front. Clarke & Courts, Publishers, Galveston (on reverse) Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19th, 1898 Undivided back. Postally unused. Circa 1904. |
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FROM 416 TREMONT STREET The Galveston Seawall. Showing three rows of 50-ft. piling and one row of 3--ft. sheet piling for foundation and breakwater below the wall. (on reverse) Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19th, 1898 Undivided back. Postally used, 1904. Another copy of this card with slightly different text is postmarked 1903. |
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A FILLED SECTION BEFORE CAISSON IS REMOVED The Galveston Seawall 3 miles long, solid concrete, 16 ft. high, 16 ft. base, 5 ft. top, 27 ft. riprap in front. Clarke & Courts, Publishers, Galveston (on reverse) Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19th, 1898 Undivided back. Postally unused. Circa 1904. |
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ABOUT 1100 FEET COMPLETED The Galveston Seawall 3 miles long, solid concrete, 16 ft. high, 16 ft. base, 5 ft. top, 27 ft. riprap in front. Clarke & Courts, Publishers, Galveston (on reverse) Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19th, 1898 Undivided back. Postally unused. Circa 1904. |
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THE FIRST SECTION CONSTRUCTED The Galveston Seawall 3 miles long, solid concrete, 16 ft. high, 16 ft. base, 5 ft. top, 27 ft. riprap in front. Clarke & Courts, Publishers, Galveston (on reverse) Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19th, 1898 Undivided back. Postally unused. Circa 1904. |
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PILE DRIVER AT WORK The Galveston Seawall 3 miles long, solid concrete, 16 ft. high, 16 ft. base, 5 ft. top, 27 ft. riprap in front. Clarke & Courts, Publishers, Galveston (on reverse) Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19th, 1898 Undivided back. Postally unused. Circa 1904. |
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MIXING THE CONCRETE The Galveston Seawall 3 miles long, solid concrete, 16 ft. high, 16 ft. base, 5 ft. top, 27 ft. riprap in front. Clarke & Courts, Publishers, Galveston (on reverse) Authorized by Act of Congress of May 19th, 1898 Undivided back. Postally unused. Circa 1904. |
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| This is an original photograph showing a large group of men standing in front of the completed seawall. I have not been able to identify this group. Perhaps they are the city leaders celebrating the completion of the seawall. Or perhaps a veterans group, though the ages of the gentlemen seem to be far-ranging. Many of the men are wearing a ribbon on their jacket lapel, and many have a tag of some sort in their hatband. If anyone can identify this gathering, I would appreciate the help. The train tracks used during construction of the seawall are not present, so perhaps this picture was taken after July of 1904. The citys grade-raising project is still to come. |
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Copyright 2009 by Gregory M. Newton