A Walking Tour of Historic Galveston

http://www.galveston.com/eastendtour/
East End Historical District Tour
East End Historic District
Galveston, TX 77550
The East end tour is a walking tour of that section of Galveston's historic district known as the East End. This district is a living museum of Greek Revival architecture common in the 1850s and other styles into the turn of the century. These homes and buildings represented a cross section of the society, from the poor to the very affluent, making it all the more interesting because of the range of sizes and styles along the streets. This entire area has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, which protects it from teardowns, obscene remodeling and the hungry grab of developers. The District not long ago was in horrid decay, but was turned around through some financial help and the efforts of people to begin painting, repairing and fixing up these landmark buildings. There's a harmonic ethnic mix represented in this District too, and several schools to serve the area. Property values have seen a rapid increase, making it even that much more beneficial to the property owners to continue to make improvements within the purview of the National Register guidelines.

The tour begins at the modest Captain Joseph Boddecker home at 1114 E. Broadway and takes the path down Broadway past other homes from that same era. Boddecker's was built in 1893. The other styles represented on this part of the tour display buildings built from the 1870 all the way to 1928. The Palladian architecture is well represented, and there are styles in a French Medieval mode, some with Victorian gingerbread, and neo-classical elements. Further down, starting at the 1700 block there's an even wider range of dates represented. The city's first Attorney moved one home, built in 1850, to this location at 1721 Broadway.

Turning onto Sealy St. visitors will pass the john C. Trube House, called by many "the strangest house in a city of strange houses," it is a combination of Gothic and Moorish design in a Belgium concrete stucco over brick walls. The Flat Roof House is another of the oddities on this street. The Queen Anne style is well represented on Sealy. On Ball Street, there are Classical Cottage and Greek Revival modes as well as Mission style buildings. At 15th and Ball the neighborhood park, Eehda Alderdice Park, is a welcome stop to sit and have a snack or just rest. The Neighborhood Association moved one of the fountains to this park for visitors. Continuing on, Ball reveals some more American Victorians and a curious Swiss Chalet influence in one home. Church Street and Postoffice continue on with more gems of Galveston creative architecture in Greek Revival and odd combinations of Moorish and Victorian.

There are quite a few church parsonages represented in this interesting walk. It's incredible how many inventors and innovators and important people in history lived in this small area on the Texas Gulf Coast. A famous professor, an iron works owner, the Galveston Railway owner, the first pharmacist in the city, a silent movie director and a "founder of the marble business in Texas" all were residents of this thriving and unusual community. So many creative and unusual people in such a small area must have been fascinating.

There is even the old site of the orphanage that went through the great Galveston storm of 1900. Tens of thousands of people lost their lives in that hurricane that caught everyone in the city completely off guard. Many fine old homes were completely flooded or destroyed, but it is truly remarkable how many pre 1900 homes were left standing. The Galveston hurricane of 1900 was, I believe, the country's largest natural disaster in terms of loss of life. It is miraculous that the city survived and built again. Every visitor on a tour there can be grateful they did.