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Since
it was designed by famed New York architect Stanford White and built for George
and Magnolia Sealy in 1889, the mansion on the northeast corner of 25th Street
and Broadway has been the most photographed home in Galveston.
It is known as The
Open Gates.
Twelve blocks away was the very modest home of Daniel
Serrato and his family.
Mr. George was in the banking and cotton business
while Mr. Daniel and his wife made their living making and selling fresh homemade
hot tamales from a push cart.
Every day, Mr. Daniel would roll his cart
with the freshly made hot tamales in a tin box, wrapped in starched white table
cloths, from his home to the driveway in front of Open
Gates.
There he’d park his blue hot tamale cart, and he’d sit on a
folding stool in the shade of the oak and oleander trees. As night would fall,
Mr. Daniel would light the kerosene railroad lantern that hung under the cart’s
canopy.
Daniel Serrato did that for at least thirty years, probably longer.
And islanders and tourists bought his fresh hot tamales by the thousands.
Interestingly,
the Sealy family thought nothing of having a street vendor operating his business
at the entrance to their famous home.
When Mr. Daniel died, his children
donated his famous cart to the Galveston County Museum. It’s on display
on the mezzanine for all to see.
Isn’t it interesting that from the corner
of 25th and Broadway, two families made important, memorable and honorable contributions
to Galveston
business?
George Sealy did it through his family’s banks, and its cotton
compress, and their huge donations to the famous John Sealy Hospital.
And
Mr. Daniel did it with his hot tamale push cart. He clothed and fed his family,
and brought happiness to the thousands who where his reliable patrons.
The
Sealys’ and the Serratos’ important memories are preserved side by side among
the treasures of the Galveston County Museum. That’s as it should be.
November
6 , 2011 column
Copyright William S. Cherry. All rights reserved
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Bill Cherry,
a Dallas Realtor and free lance writer was a longtime columnist for "The Galveston
County Daily News." His book, Bill Cherry's Galveston Memories, has sold
thousands, and is still available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com and other
bookstores. | |
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