East End Historic District

Galveston, Texas's largest and most prosperous city in the period of the Republic and early statehood, contains the most intact concentration of preserved nineteenth-century buildings in Texas. The East End Historic District, a residential section of some fifty blocks, is the largest and most complete area of nineteenth-century homes in the city. The district, a portion of Galveston's original residential area, contains numerous examples of Greek Revival and Victorian architecture and, as a result of the density of historic structures, retains the ambiance of nineteenth-century Galveston. The city's quantity and quality of 19th-century buildings place Galveston among the most important cities in the United States in the study of architectural history.

The earliest settlement at the present city was that of the Jean Laffite commune of 1817 centered around Laffite's fort at the site of the present Medical School. Stephen F. Austin wanted Galveston established as a port as early as 1825, but there was no settlement until the Mexican customs house was established in 1830. By 1832 there was a community of about 300 persons. In December 1838, Michel B. Menard bought the site of the city from the first Congress of the Republic and organized the Galveston City Company to promote the settlement of Galveston. The harbor was recognized as a port of entry in 1837 and when the county was organized in 1838, Galveston had a population of approximately 3,000. In 1838 the city was plotted and mapped into blocks and lots.

By 1850 Galveston had become the trading center of the state. Along the Gulf Coast, the Galveston seaport was second only to New Orleans in tonnage during the last half of the 19th century. The city possessed the finest deep-water harbor in Texas, as well as the state's leading banks and trading houses. The earliest known map showing the outline of structures in the city dates to 1865 and shows a sizeable number of dwellings in the East End, several of which are still in existence. An 1871 bird's eye view of Galveston illustrates that considerable building occurred in the area im- mediately after the Civil War, a prosperous period throughout the city.

The tempo of its trade and the success of its businessmen indicated that Galveston would soon become the great seaport of the west. However, complex factors, in particular, the rise of Houston's port, prevented the city from attaining such a unique position. Following the tragic flood of 1900 in which 5,000 to 7,000 lives were lost, Galveston's population did not continue to increase in proportion to other major Texas cities, and her preeminence as a port city and commercial center diminished. Such a decline, however, left a treasury of 19th-century architecture in Galveston. The East End Historic District represents a mixture of large elaborate dwellings, built by wealthy individuals in the mercantile and shipping activities as well as examples of more modest homes. Given historic zoning protection in the summer of 1970, the district is an amazing intact visual documentation of the importance of Galveston as a major regional port for Texas and the southwest since before the Civil War. The district contains many individually outstanding structures, but its unique quality is the visual continuity created by blocks of dwellings related in material, texture, and scale.

Besides its architectural significance, the East End Historic District was the home of many of Galveston's outstanding leaders. One of the earliest houses remaining in the district is the house at 1602 Church built by Wilbur Cherry in 1852-54. After fighting in the Texas Revolution, Cherry moved to the newly formed city of Galveston and became known as a newspaper editor and publisher. The most outstanding example of Victorian architecture in the district was built in 1887-93 at 1402 Broadway by Walter Gresham. Gresham, a prominent lawyer, Texas Legislator and Representative to the 52nd Congress, was one of the leaders in acquiring the charter for the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railroad for Galveston, as well as being active in securing a deepwater harbor for the city. Across the street from the Gresham home Thomas Lucas, a successful brick contractor, built the Art Nouveau apartment house, the Lucas Apartments, at 1407-09 Broadway. An earlier complex, reported to be the first apartment house in Galveston, was destroyed in the 1900 storm. Another prominent Galveston attorney, J. Z. H. Scott, built a home at 1721 Broadway in 1878. When the home burned in the 1885 Galveston fire, Scott bought a cottage from Walter Gresham and moved it to this site.

Other prominent figures continued to build in the popular East End. John S. Sydnor, the first Mayor of Galveston built one of the early East End homes in 1855 at 1604 Sealy. In 1884 Sampson Heidenheimer bought the Sydnor house and hired Nicholas Clayton to enlarge and remodel the Greek Revival house into a more stylish Victorian residence. Heidenheimer and his brothers owned one of the largest grocery houses in Texas. John C. Trube a successful merchant and real estate dealer, commissioned the architect Alfred Muller to design a house at 1627 Sealy in 1890. One block away Captain Charles Clarke, a prominent figure in the local shipping interest, built his home at 1728 Sealy in 1895. Along Ball Avenue, George Schroder, owner of one of the largest wholesale grocery businesses in Galveston, George Schroder, and Co., built a home in 1888 at 13th street. Earlier in 1882, Bernard Roensch, a commission merchant, broker and cotton buyer, had built a home at 1517 Ball. In 1881 the elderly Menard, instrumental in forming the Galveston City Company with his Uncle M.B. Menard in 1837, bought a home at 1207 Winnie. Gustav and John Reymershoffer, two of Galveston's early industrialists, erected houses in 1887 in the 1300 block of the Post Office. The brothers had organized the Texas Star Flour Mills, which had quickly become one of the largest mills in the south. Also on Post Office H.A. Landes commissioned George E. Dickey to design a home in 1886 at 1604 Post Office. Landes was a wealthy wholesaler, cotton factory, and shipper who owned his own fleet. Another interesting home at 519 15th street was built by John L. Darragh, president of the Galveston Wharf Co. in 1886.

Although the greatest concentration of small houses is outside the district, the East End Historical District does contain examples of the smaller dwellings built during the late nineteenth century as well as back or alley houses, which frequently housed blacks or "tenants" as described on early insurance maps.

The East End Historical District is an area with which the Galveston community identifies and which is becoming a major tourist attraction. Despite the fact that the district was given historic zoning protection in the summer of 1970, the survival of the district is not totally assured. The University of Texas Medical Branch which was responsible for the demolition of many of the earliest structures in Galveston in an expansion program in the late 1960s and to which the establishment of the historic ordinance was a reaction, has expressed interest in more development in the East End. Also, the expansion program of the Galveston Wharves calls for a major access road on Fourteenth street directly through the heart of the Historic district. An East End Historical District Association, consisting of individuals living in the district, was formed in the fall of 1972, to address itself these problems as well as to the general improvement and enhancement of the area.