The natural disaster on the exposed barrier island is still ranked today as the deadliest in United States history, with an estimated death toll between 6,000 and 12,000 people.

[9] During his charting of the Gulf Coast in 1785, the Spanish explorer José de Evia labeled the water features surrounding the island "Bd.

[13] In 1836, the French-Canadian Michel Branamour Menard and several associates purchased 4,605 acres (18.64 km2) of land for $50,000 to found the town that would become the modern city of Galveston.

During this expansion, the city had many "firsts" in the state, with the founding of institutions and adoption of inventions: post office (1836), naval base (1836), Texas chapter of a Masonic order (1840); cotton compress (1842), Catholic parochial school (Ursuline Academy) (1847), insurance company (1854), and gas lights (1856).

[16][19] During the American Civil War, Confederate forces under Major General John B. Magruder attacked and expelled occupying Union troops from the city in January 1863 in the Battle of Galveston.

[20] On June 19, 1865, two months after the end of the war and almost three years after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, General Gordon Granger of the Union Army informed the enslaved people of Texas that they were now free.

The city's progress continued through the Reconstruction era with numerous "firsts": construction of the opera house (1870), and orphanage (1876), installation of telephone lines (1878) and electric lights (1883).

[16][19][26][27] Having attracted freedmen from rural areas, in 1870 the city had a black population that totaled 3,000,[28] made up mostly of former slaves but also by persons who were free men of color and educated before the war.

Thus, in less than a single generation Galveston went from being Texas' most populous (and most important) city to being a tragic footnote to a century of frontier violence, urban lawlessness and civic greed, throughout the state.

Indifference may have masked anxiety, but it enabled those who committed themselves to Galveston to endure their fate with a measure of dignity, even when they were forced to compromise with conventional morality in order to do so.

Galveston has a worldview all its own, as if the Zeitgeist had decided to linger awhile, so that past and present might become one, and the forgotten boom town that went bust, not once but twice, might yet be resurrected, lifting the burden of history while daring fate.

In 1905 William Lewis Moody, Jr. and Isaac H. Kempner, members of two of Galveston's leading families founded the American National Insurance Company.

In January 1943, Galveston Army Air Field was officially activated with the 46th Bombardment Group serving an anti-submarine role in the Gulf of Mexico.

The foundation, one of the largest in the United States, would play a prominent role in Galveston during later decades, helping to fund numerous civic and health-oriented programs.

Restoration efforts financed by motivated investors, notably Houston businessman George P. Mitchell, gradually developed the Strand Historic District and reinvented other areas.

[65] As of 2009 many residents of the west end use golf carts as transportation to take them to and from residential houses, the Galveston Island Country Club, and stores.

Since the early 20th century, Galveston has been popularly known as the 'Oleander City'[70] because of a long history of cultivating Nerium oleander, a subtropical evergreen shrub which thrives on the island.

[71] Oleanders are a defining feature of the city; when flowering (between April and October) they add masses of color to local gardens, parks, and streets.

Galveston is reputed to have the most diverse range of Oleander cultivars in the world, numbering over 100, with many varieties developed in the city and named after prominent Galvestonians.

[79] The Bishop's Palace, also known as Gresham's Castle, is an ornate Victorian house located on Broadway and 14th Street in the East End Historic District of Galveston, Texas.

The American Institute of Architects listed Bishop's Palace as one of the 100 most significant buildings in the United States, and the Library of Congress has classified it as one of the fourteen most representative Victorian structures in the nation.

[97][98][99] Talks of building a coastal storm barrier with a mix of federal and state funding to protect Galveston and Houston have been ongoing for years.

This Italianate-style 1900 Storm survivor was extensively damaged during Hurricane Ike in 2008, forcing the center to temporarily relocate to a nearby facility on Market Street.

[130] Under Property Manager/Creative Director Becky Major, the unused retail space in the front of the building found a new purpose as a DIY art and music venue, despite its gutted and undeveloped state.

Since the storm, the regents have committed to spending $713 million to restore the campus, construct new medical towers, and return John Sealy Hospital to its 550-bed pre-storm capacity.

Farm to Market Road 3005 (locally called Seawall Boulevard) connects Galveston to Brazoria County via the San Luis Pass-Vacek Toll Bridge.

[177] British playwright and actor Charles Francis Coghlan died in Galveston in 1899 while touring with his theatre company[178] and was initially entombed there until his body was washed out to sea in the 1900 hurricane.

[183] Sam Maceo, a nationally known organized crime boss, with the help of his family, was largely responsible for making Galveston a major U.S. tourist destination from the 1920s to the 1940s.

[185] Anita Martini, pioneering female sports journalist who was the first woman allowed in a major league locker room for a post-game press conference, was born in Galveston.

[193] Other notable people include Brandon Backe, a former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Houston Astros who played in the 2005 World Series,[194] Matt Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals,[195] Mike Evans, wide receiver for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,[196] 1998 Heisman Trophy runner-up and pro quarterback Michael Bishop, Pittsburgh Steelers great Casey Hampton,[197] comedian Bill Engvall,[198] actresses Valerie Perrine[citation needed] and Katherine Helmond,[199] painter Ethel Fisher,[200] Tina Knowles fashion designer and creator of House of Deréon, mother of Beyoncé and Solange Knowles,[201] and Grammy award-winning R&B and Jazz legend Esther Phillips, was born in Galveston in 1935.