Colleges and universities include: At the time of European encounter, Akokisa and Karankawa indigenous Americans lived and camped on what became known as Galveston Island.

[2] Historians believe the island is where Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and his small party of around 80, made a brief stopover in November 1528, during his lengthy and notable survival odyssey.

Jao de la Porta, along with his brother Morin, financed the first settlement by ethnic Europeans on Galveston Island in 1816.

[4] Jao de la Porta was born in Portugal of Jewish parentage; he became a trader in Texas.

During the Civil War, the Union army seized control of the island from the South for a few months during early 1863.

[7] Isaac M. Cline, the meteorologist in charge of the local Weather Bureau, lived on Galveston Island.

Although weather conditions were relatively calm on September 7, Cline observed the rough seas and the high waves that seemed to become more ominous by the hour.

[citation needed] After the hurricane passed, the state and city constructed a seawall around the settled portion of the island.