Galveston Unscripted | Free. Texas History. For All.

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📱Social and other ways to explore Texas History👂The Battle of Galveston interview with Edward T Cotham Jr.Ed Cotham is the prize-winning author of many books and articles on Civil War history, emphasizing the battles and skirmishes in Texas.
Book: Battle on the Bay: The Civil War Struggle for Galveston
More on Edward T Cotham Jr.

Tour with Spotify:
👂Listen: Kuhn's Wharf
👂Listen: Rosenberg Fountains👂Listen: East End Historical District👂Listen: Texas Heroes Monument👂Listen: Quick History of Galveston👂Listen: Port of Galveston
Interested in information covered in this episode? Dive deeper into the links below! :
Battle of GalvestonBattle on the Bay: The Civil War Struggle for Galveston
Transcript:
The American Civil war made its mark in Galveston. During the Civil War, Galveston was a key port to the confederate supply lines. Although the Union Navy had organized blockades at the port; blockade runners were still able to traverse the unions effort to cut off the confederates flow of shipments.In October of 1862, The Union Navy had finally seized control of the Port of Galveston. on New Year’s Day 1863, A joint effort between the confederate army, and a makeshift confederate naval force attacked the Union vessels in the harbor. The confederacy hatched a plan to use cotton clad warships. These vessels were essentially steam powered barges, with pressed cotton stacked up around the edges as armor.The confederate army, Led by General John Bankhead Magruder, utilized the Hendley building, and other smaller buildings on 20th Street. With cannon fire from the Hendley Building and the cotton clad steamers coming in Hot from Houston, the confederate forces got a jump on the Union Navy. The battle was short as the Union Navy was not prepared and the confederacy once again claimed Galveston. After this battle, the union was never successfully able to maintain control of the port of Galveston, making Galveston the only confederate port not succ

Trailer: Sentinels Of The Port: The Galveston-Texas City Pilots https://youtu.be/Rqj_y9Z9RWA
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Maceo Spice & Import Company | Maceo family legacy

The Maceo family has a well-established name in Galveston history. Sam and Rosario Maceo arrived in Galveston from New Orleans in the early 1900s. Founders of the turf club and the famous Balinese Room, the Maceo family built a business empire in Galveston. One of those enterprises began in 1944, Maceo spice & Import Company. In the early days, Maceo's was strictly a commercial enterprise designed for wholesale to chefs and restaurants. The building that Maceo's is in today was initially purchased as a warehouse by Rosario Maceo. The warehouse eventually evolved into a retail location. Maceo had another store front of Rosenberg Avenue. After hurricane Ike, Maceo spice and import Company moved back to the location on 27th and Market Street. Today, Maceo is a vibrant restaurant and storefront for exotic spices, meats, and cheeses from all over the World. Many of the menu items are secret family recipes, some of them over 100 years old. Others could be recipes from the famous Balinese room. So go ahead, step inside, look around, find some delicious spices, order a Muffuletta, and experience a Galveston staple: Maceo Spice and Import Company.
Interested in information covered in this episode? Reference links below:
The influence of the Maceo Family in Galveston
History of Maceo Spice
Maceo Spice & Import Company
Balinese Room History
📱Social Media and other ways to explore history📍Visit Galveston history audio tour map!🎧Market Mile with Spotify! | West of Rosenberg Ave & North Broadway

Trailer: Sentinels Of The Port: The Galveston-Texas City Pilots https://youtu.be/Rqj_y9Z9RWA
Get Your Tickets: https://tickets.thegrand.com/Online/seatSelect.asp?createBO::WSmap=1&BOparam::WSmap::loadBestAvailable::performance_ids=ACD7ED91-2783-4B3B-81A3-3920FFC249E5&BOparam::WSmap::loadBestAvailable

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📍Visit our interactive map!Enjoy this content? Buy me a book! 📚
📱Social and other ways to explore Texas HistoryTour with Spotify:
👂Listen: Quick History of Galveston👂Listen: The Galveston Seawall - Protection, Entertainment, Recreation👂Listen: East End Historical District👂Listen: Texas Heroes MonumentInterested in information covered in this episode? Dive deeper into the links below! :Seawall
Great deep dive Podcast on this subject : Wise About Texas Ep. 40 Raising Galveston and Walling off the Sea Contact us: [email protected]
Transcript:
Shortly after the 1900 storm, and in conjunction with the building of the sea wall, city officials decided to bolster the island's defenses against hurricanes. As the sea wall was being built, the entire urbanized portion of the island was elevated using dredge mud from the ship channel.
Before the grade raising, the highest point on the island was only eight feet above sea level. The grade raising not only supported the seawall but also was set to improve drainage and sewage systems, which were badly needed but challenging to implement with an extremely low elevation. The initial grade-raising project took place from 1903 through 1911.
The project was accomplished in square, quarter-mile sections and involved closing each section in a dyke and then lifting all structures and utilities, such as street car tracks, fireplugs, and water pipes. Around 2000 buildings were raised and put on stilts using hand-turn jack screws. The sand fill was dredged from the entrance to Galveston Harbor and then transported to residential districts through a 20-foot deep, 200-foot wide, 2.5-mile long canal using four self-loading hopper dredges.
After the fill was discharged in the areas to be raised, new foundations were constructed on top of it. Today you can see evidence of many of Galveston's homes and buildings that were elevated during this project. Take a look at the bottom of most of Galveston's East End Homes. You can see that the original structure is sitting high above the ground.
Most of these structures were lifted and placed to the current height over a hundred years ago. The Galveston Sea Wall grade raising was one of the largest civil projects in Texas and the United States in the early 1900s. To get a good idea of Galveston's original elevation, take a ferry to Boliver or drive to Galveston's West E

Trailer: Sentinels Of The Port: The Galveston-Texas City Pilots https://youtu.be/Rqj_y9Z9RWA
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Galveston Unscripted Digital Market

📍Visit our interactive map!Enjoy this content? Buy me a book! 📚
📱Social and other ways to explore Texas HistoryTour with Spotify:
👂Listen: Kuhn's Wharf
👂Listen: Quick History of Galveston👂Listen: Texas Firsts👂Listen: The Great Fire of 1885👂Listen: Port of Galveston
Interested in information covered in this episode? Dive deeper into the links below!
Katies SeafoodKuhns WharfBattle of GalvestonContact us: [email protected]
Transcript:
While exploring Pier 21, you may spot all of the shrimp boats docked between the Ocean Star and Katie's seafood. This area is known as the mosquito fleet. It's said that the name mosquito fleet comes from the shrimping boats, insect-like profiles.
This area was home to the 1838 Koons Warf, one of the first significant investments at the Port of Galveston and one of the first docks with deep water access. Before Galveston's first bridge connected to the mainland in 1860, the area around the mosquito fleet became the city's open market. Boats would arrive from the mainland, bringing produce, beef, and other goods to barter. Throughout the city's early years, the market eventually expanded southward along 20th Street between Avenue B, also known as Strand, and Avenue D, known as Market Street.
During the Civil War in late 1862 into 1863, the United States Navy occupied Galveston for a few months, and the USS Harriet Lane was docked at the end of Koons Wharf. The Confederacy took back Galveston Island and initiated what is now known as the Battle of Galveston. The area between the mosquito fleet along 20th Street to Strand, including the Hendley building, is a civil war battleground.
Today's mosquito fleet ties together Galveston's early market, the naming of Market Street, the Battle of Galveston during the civil war, and Koons Wharf, a significant pier for trade at the port of Galveston. Be sure to take a close look at some of those shrimp boats. If you've ever eaten shrimp in Galveston, chances are high they came from one of these boats.

Trailer: Sentinels Of The Port: The Galveston-Texas City Pilots https://youtu.be/Rqj_y9Z9RWA
Get Your Tickets: https://tickets.thegrand.com/Online/seatSelect.asp?createBO::WSmap=1&BOparam::WSmap::loadBestAvailable::performance_ids=ACD7ED91-2783-4B3B-81A3-3920FFC249E5&BOparam::WSmap::loadBestAvailable

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Galveston Unscripted Digital Market

📍Visit our interactive map!Enjoy this content? Buy me a book! 📚
📱Social and other ways to explore Texas HistoryTour with Spotify:
👂Listen: Jean Lafitte
👂Listen: The Strand
👂Listen: Pier 21
👂Listen: Port of Galveston
Interested in information covered in this episode? Dive deeper into the links below! :Quarantine stationGalveston Naval MuseumSeawolf ParkTexas A&M University at Galveston
Contact us: [email protected]
Transcript:
While standing on Pier 21, you can see Pelican Island across the harbor. Pelican Island can only be accessed by the 51st Street Bridge, which can be seen at the far west end of Galveston Harbor. Today Pelican Island is home to Texas A&M University at Galveston Sea Wolf Park and the Galveston Naval Museum. The Galveston Naval Museum exhibits a World War II destroyer escort, the USS Stewart, and a World War II era submarine, The USS Cavalla. Texas A&M University at Galveston was established in 1965. Prominent Galveston businessman George P. Mitchell donated the land. This campus is currently home to the Texas Maritime Academy, one of the seven maritime academies in the United States. The campus is also world-renowned for its maritime business and marine biology program.
The Pelican Island we see today is primarily manmade from mud pulled from the Galveston, Texas City, and Houston ship channels during the Dredging projects over the past century. When a ship channel is deepened and widened, the mud they pull from the ship channel must go somewhere. Pelican Island became the ideal place to expand real estate along the Galveston and Texas City ship channels. Over the past 100 years, Pelican Island has steadily grown into what you see today. When you look at old maps from the 1800s, you will see two small islands north of Galveston itself. These were known as Pelican Island and Pelican Spit. Seawolf Park currently sits at the location of Pelican Spit, and it's also where one of the quarantine stations for immigration was built in the early 1900s. If you have time on your trip to Galveston, I recommend driving to the Far East end of Pelican Island to experience the Galveston Naval Museum in Seawolf Park.
Seawolf Park is known as a first-class fishing destination in this part

Trailer: Sentinels Of The Port: The Galveston-Texas City Pilots https://youtu.be/Rqj_y9Z9RWA
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Galveston Unscripted Digital Market