Audio travel Guide

The Strand in Galveston is a district with a rich maritime history. It was once a thriving business district and a major port for immigration and supplies. After a devastating hurricane, the Strand began to decline, but efforts were made to preserve its historical significance. Today, Galveston is a popular cruise terminal and the Strand highlights its maritime past. There are historic sites, buildings from the 1850s, and shops that sell maritime artifacts. Despite its shifting importance, the Strand remains an important place in the maritime world. As is to be expected from an island town, Galveston is a city with an incredibly, incredibly rich maritime history. Throughout the city, there are many fascinating things you can see from naval bases down Seawolf Parkway, the Naval Museum, and now, soon to be, the USS Texas. But in my opinion, chief among these marvels of Galveston is the Strand. This single district is an absolute epicenter of historical value and importance for the city and the maritime world. In recent years, the drive to the Strand has shifted, but the location has remained a landmark for a multitude of reasons. Back in its earlier history, towards the 1800s, it was given the nickname the Wall Street of the Southwest, as its proximity to multiple harbors made it a thriving business district. With thousands of ships coming to port, the Strand thrived doing business with all manner of people. Restocking ships, getting and offloading their goods, all sorts of commerce was handled in this one area. The Strand was also a place of mass immigration into Texas and further west, with people sailing in to the Strand, to the ports, restocking in the Strand and moving on. It became a major place to get necessary supplies, pushing further west. Even after the storm of 1900, which was a devastating hurricane throughout Galveston, ruined the Strand, ports were still receiving funding to expand their operations, maintaining their relevancy. As of 1907, a mass operation was conducted to widen and broaden and enhance the ports. Eventually though, the toll would be taken from the storm, and the Strand and Galveston as a whole would begin to wither somewhat, as the Port of Houston began to outpace the Port of Galveston. Historic buildings were torn down, replaced with newer ones, and parking lots and all sorts of modernizations. This continued on until eventually, a group of citizens and historians came together to preserve the significant history inlaid into this district. With this, the Strand pivoted from a raw commercial reliance to a reliance towards tourism. Galveston now is the 4th largest cruise terminal in the U.S. and the 11th largest cruise terminal in the world. With all of these people, the Strand began to emphasize more its historical relevancy. Numerous sites exist along the Strand, markers stating all sorts of interesting facts. There's a place along the Strand where the General Order No. 3 was stated, given. This was the order that enforced the Emancipation Proclamation, and is the basis of the National Holiday Juneteenth. That's less to do with maritime specifically, but it is still a massively important thing. There are numerous buildings that still stand from the 1850s, created by Nicholas Clayton, Galveston's premier architect of that time. Of the 15 buildings he made, 8 still stand. All sorts of incredibly important things. Even modern shops pay homage to Galveston's maritime history with a nautical shop, an antique shop, that sells old charts and bits of the ship, like wheels and rudders and ship lights. All of this being said, even though it has shifted its importance, it is still very important to the maritime world, as it is one of the largest cruise terminals in the world, pulling in tourists from all around, and it's just an incredibly, incredibly storied place.