How Galveston's Old Money Built a Boulevard of Mansions and Then the Storm Came: Broadway

On the morning of September 9, 1900, Galveston woke up to the deadliest natural disaster in American history. Somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 people were dead and thousands of homes were gone. But on Broadway, the mansions of Galveston's old money were still standing. Before the storm, Galveston was the "Wall Street of the Southwest." It shipped about 60% of Texas's cotton and claimed to be the third richest city in America for its size. On Broadway, the first divided boulevard in Texas, its first families built houses of brick and stone: Ashton Villa with its 13-inch walls, the stone chateau now known as the Bishop's Palace, Open Gates by the New York firm McKim, Mead & White, and Nicholas Clayton's last private home. Their thick walls held through the storm. The city did not. While the island built a seawall and raised itself out of the sea, the money moved fifty miles inland, and in 1914 the Houston Ship Channel opened and sealed Galveston's fate. This is the story of the mansions that survived the storm, the bargain William Moody made in the wreckage, and the city that lost everything except its houses. Have you been inside the Bishop's Palace or the Moody Mansion? Tell us in the comments. CHAPTERS 0:00 The Morning After 1:53 The Widest Street in Texas 4:32 The Villa That Came First 6:12 The Palace of Stone 7:43 Open Gates and the Leagues 11:01 The Night of the Storm 14:51 The Bargain of the Century 17:18 Raising the City 19:22 Houston Takes the Money 23:22 The Houses That Almost Fell 26:31 What the Storm Could Not Take SOURCES 1900 Galveston Hurricane: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Galveston_hurricane Galveston & Texas History Center – 1900 Storm FAQ: https://www.galvestonhistorycenter.org/archive/exhibits/storms/1900/victims/stormfaq.htm City of Galveston – Historic Broadway Boulevard Treatment Plan: https://galvestontx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/11527/Historic-Broadway-Boulevard-Treatment-Plan---Technical-Memorandum Visit Galveston – Broadway and Rosenberg: Where Galveston Built Its Legacy: https://www.visitgalveston.com/blog/podcast-galvestons-crossroads-of-confidence/ Handbook of Texas (TSHA) – The Bishop's Palace: https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/bishops-palace Ashton Villa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashton_Villa Moody Mansion – About: https://www.moodymansion.org/about TroysArt – The League-Kempner Mansion: https://troysart.com/the-league-kempner-mansion-in-galveston-is-endangered-without-its-determined-new-savior/ Handbook of Texas (TSHA) – Commission Form of City Government: https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/commission-form-of-city-government #Galveston #TexasHistory #1900Storm