Cedar Lawn Historic District

The Cedar Lawn Historic District is Galveston's most intact early-to-mid-twentieth-century neighborhood. The grand houses built during the first few years of the district's development document the prosperity of Galveston in the 1920s as well as set the tone for the neighborhood. The continuous building through the Great Depression and the conspicuous absence of building during WWII also records Galveston's relationship to the events that shaped the 20th century. The continuation of ever-changing styles seen throughout the neighborhood signals the changing taste of affluent Galveston from the historic Revival Styles before World War II to the prominent new structures of postwar modernism. The unmistakable break from the continuous grid sets Cedar Lawn apart from the simultaneous development in the city and links the district to national trends of suburban development and planning. With 98 out of 115 properties classified as contributing, the district retains a very high degree of integrity and is nominated to the National Register under Criterion A in the area of Community Development and Planning and Criterion C in the area of Architecture at the local level of significance.

20TH CENTURY HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF GALVESTON

The Great Storm is the most defining event in Galveston's history. On September 8, 1900, a hurricane swept in from the Gulf that resulted in the mass destruction of more than 1500 acres in Galveston. Over 6000 people were killed; the largest number of deaths caused by any natural disaster in the United States. The ocean had cleared the land of all structures on the Gulf side of the island; a strip extending the full length of the city and approximately eleven blocks deep. Approximately 4,000 structures in the city were demolished - nearly two-thirds of the total before the storm. The debris was piled into a six-foot-tall, ten-foot thick wall of compressed building materials, household items, and corpses.? This wall of debris created a barrier during the storm, preventing the force of the waves from extending further inland. The clean-up effort began immediately, with aid eventually pouring in from across the United States and Europe. Clara Barton, president of the American Red Cross, personally came to Galveston to oversee the organization's relief effort.

Seawall & Island Grade Raising

The other significant development in Galveston was the decision to build a seawall to buffer the Gulf of Mexico from Galveston and to "raise" the grade of the city. For many years prior to the Storm, the issue of creating a seawall to protect the city had been discussed but never realized. With the devastation of this hurricane, there was only one choice: to protect the city from future disasters.

Engineers were hired to design the Galveston Seawall and in a report from January 1902, they concluded that: "protection from storms is not only required for the preservation of life and property but also...to give confidence to the people of Galveston and to others who may be drawn here by business interests, in the absolute safety of the city against the recurrence of such catastrophes as the one of 1900." The seawall was originally planned to be 17 feet above mean low tide, with a base fifteen feet thick that narrowed to five feet at the top. This height was determined by raising the wall "1.3 feet higher than the highest point reached by the water in the storm of 1900." In October 1902, construction began. Built over a period of several years, the seawall now stretches over 10 miles in length.

Following the construction of the seawall, it became imperative to raise the grade of the city. With the seawall at seventeen feet high, various portions of Galveston had to be raised. Dredge material was taken from Galveston Bay by self-loading and discharging hopper dredges that would then stream through a distribution channel "to pipeline stations and discharge their loads through pipes running down the streets and avenues." The grade of the island was to be sloped away from the seawall: Avenue J/Broadway was set at 12' above sea level and the bay side of the island at Ave A was set at 8' above sea level. This was accomplished in twelve-block sections, beginning in the East End of town and extending west. All buildings and structures in these sections had to be raised, including outbuildings and, in some cases, fences. Although Galveston houses were typically built on piers due to previous flooding problems, most buildings had to be raised to accommodate the new grade. North of Broadway, buildings were raised only a few feet, as this had been the highest natural elevation on the island. During grade raising, Galvestonians lived in a city on stilts with raised walkways connected to individual buildings. In 1910, when the original grade-raising contract was completed, 10.6 million cubic yards of sand had been used to raise the land extending west to 45th Street.

Early 20th Century Galveston

With the seawall in place, Galveston began anew, regaining the confidence that it once had. The first real test of the new technology occurred in 1915 when a powerful hurricane struck the island. The seawall was a success and Galveston survived with greatly reduced property damage compared to storms of the past. However, this new protection from the Gulf was not enough to propel Galveston back into prominence. The economy in Texas was rapidly changing. The Spindletop oil discovery in Beaumont had launched Texas into an oil rush and Galveston's old rival Houston was at the center of the new developing economy. Houston's rise to power over Galveston was cemented with the construction of the Houston ship channel in 1914. Houston no longer needed Galveston's deepwater port.

Galveston was unable to invest in the burgeoning oil industry because most of its capital was tied up in developing defenses against the sea." Instead, Galveston became "the sin city of the Gulf Coast, based upon a triad of prostitution, gambling, and drinking." Galveston has always been a city of contrasts and certainly, a bawdy element has always been a part of its character. Prostitution was illegal in Texas, but authorities in Galveston used considerable interpretation in enforcing the law. Gambling and bootleg liquor went hand-in-hand, and in the back rooms of popular nightclubs along the seawall, illegal activities were commonplace. From time to time the US Army would scold the city for its houses of ill repute because of soldiers stationed at Fort Crockett contracting venereal disease. During WWII officials warned the City that its prostitutes threatened national defense, and the red light district was shut down for the duration of the war. However, Galveston continued its relaxed enforcement of the law for nearly two more decades. Finally, in 1957 state authorities shut down the gambling operations at the Balinese Room, Galveston's most famous pleasure pier, and the era of "free living" was over.