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TEXAS CITY,
TEXAS
Galveston County, Texas
Gulf Coast
29° 24' 0" N, 94° 56' 2" W (29.4, -94.933889)
On Galveston Bay and I-45
10 Miles NW of Galveston
the county seat
37 miles SE of Houston
ZIP codes 77590-77592
Area code 409
Population: 50,094 Est. (2019)
45,099 (2010) 41,521 (2000) 40,822 (1990)
Book Hotel Here › Texas
City Hotels
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Welcome
to Texas City
Photo courtesy Ken
Rudine, 2011 |
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Looking North,
Texas City street scene
Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/
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History
in a Pecan Shell
The city’s history is primarily a history of its industrial development.
Texas City dates from 1891 when a small group of hunters from Minnesota
saw its potential as a deep-water port. With other investors, the
men acquired 10,000 acres of land including the minuscule community
of Shoal Point which was renamed Texas City.
A plat was filed in early 1893, the same year they applied for a post
office.
The few people who had lived in Shoal Point were soon outnumbered
by Michiganders and Minnesotans with a population estimated at 250.-
In 1893 a narrow canal was dug to connect the community to deeper
water and a rail line built on a long pier allowed freight to be forwarded
to Houston and beyond.
The Texas City Improvement Company went bankrupt and reorganized into
two entities. One managed railroad operations and the other which
managed utilities for the community.
The famous
storm of 1900 slowed work on the channel, but it was finally completed
in 1905. From just twelve visiting ships in 1910, Texas City received
two hundred and thirty-nine by 1910. The port was greatly enhanced
with the addition of a refinery to process and ship oil from Jefferson
County (Port Arthur and Beaumont).
The population was 1,169 in 1911. In 1913 the port became a marshalling
area for the U.S. Army’s Second Division, in the event it needed to
intervene in the ongoing Mexican Revolution. Among the 14,000 troops
was the newly formed First Aero Squadron. The encampment was struck
by a hurricane in 1915 and the force was moved inland to San
Antonio.
In the 1920s, added infrastructure (grain elevators, cotton compresses
and warehouses) bolstered the economy and the population soared to
3,500. The Great Depression hit the town hard and the business district
suffered most.
Midway through the Great Depression, Texas City acquired additional
refineries over the city’s maineconomic rival – the Houston Ship Channel.
On the eve of WWII,
Texas City’s population was over 5,200, making it the fourth largest
port in Texas. During the war, operations
were 24 / 7. In 1940 a tin smelter was built – the only one in the
Western Hemisphere. After the war, the population had become a staggering
16,520.
The 1947 Texas City Disaster
On April 16, 1947, a ship loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer
blew up, causing secondary explosions and forever linking the city
to one of America’s worst industrial disasters. The fire department
was virtually wiped out. The final count of the dead stood at 576
people.
But rebuilding the damaged caused by the blast also provided jobs
and by 1960, Texas City had a population of just over 32,000.
Hurricane Carla
Hurricane Carla flooded the town with four-feet of water and long-delayed
plans for a seawall were pushed to the front. The protective barrier
was begun in 1962 although completion on the final section didn’t
occur until 1985.
The city switched to using water from the Brazos River for industrial
purposes after it was found that the pumping of ground water was adding
to the city’s flooding woes.
In the 1980s another levee was added – complete with a pumping station
to remove rainwater caused by hurricanes.
[See Texas
Storms | Texas
Disasters]
The 1980s ranked Texas City the third largest Texas port and number
eleven for the entire United States. By the end of that decade, the
population had reached over 43,.000. It declined to 40,822 for the
1990 census and for 2000 the number was given as 41,521. |
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Old store in
Texas City
Click on image to enlarge
More Texas Stores
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Contributor's
Note:
Subject: Old African-American Store
Figured I'd send you this picture before I put it on ebay because,
once it's out there it's gone. I'd say it's Texas City as that is
what it says in back. - June 25, 2018
See Texas Black History
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Back of photo
showing Sim's Studio, Texas City, Texas
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Texas City before
1911
Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/
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Koehler's Recreation
Bowling Alleys
Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/
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City Hall and
Auditorium
1930s Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/
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Texas City
City Hall
1940s Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/
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Sixth Street,
the main thoroughfare of Texas City
Postcard courtesy www.rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/
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Texas City
Explosion, April 16, 1947
"I attended 1st grade in Galveston
at the Rosenberg school on 10th Street. One morning about 9:00 the
whole school shook. We had a fire drill and had to go outside. Mama
had made me a nice Easter dress and while we waited outside it became
spattered with oil. We went back into the school and classes were
dismissed for the day. I had to walk to 7th street where we lived
and I found Mama in the bathroom washing clothes on a scrub board,
In the afternoon we stood on the porch and looked towards Texas
City where the sky was red and glowing. We lived close to St. Marys
hospital where the emergency people were bringing in the injured
from Texas City in the back of trucks. Later we found out [about
the] explosion. That's all I remember about that terrible day".
- Margie Bennett Hill, Manvel, Texas, April 09, 2007
More Texas
Disasters
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Texas City
Forum
Subject:
Naming of Texas City
Maybe I am missing it, but I can't find anything about old dance
halls on TE. I believe that this would be an excellent addition
to TE, considering all the history of dance
halls in Texas. Thanks for the hard work you have put into this
website. I spend hours on TE, truly amazing.
I am originally from Texas City, Texas. The reason for the name
I always heard is so it would catch on, like NewYork, NY. - Curtis
Herzog, June 23, 2019
Subject:
Texas City Movie Theaters
The TEXAS movie theater was on the NW corner of 1st Ave N
and 6th St.
The SHOWBOAT movie theater was on 6th St, in the middle of
the block, on the east side of the street, between 4th and 5th avenues
north
The JEWEL movie theater was in the middle of the block on
the east side of 6th St, between 5th and 6th avenues north, across
from the then location of the city hall.
- GEORGE BAKER, February 28, 2022
Subject:
Texas Theatres
I have a page for graduates of Texas City High School.
We have a debate on the movie theatres in the years we grew up.
We recall the Jewel, the Showboat and the Drive Inn called
Tradewinds. Many insist there was a movie on 6th Street called
Texas or Texan.
I have no recollection of it and was born in TC in 1938. I suggested
perhaps the Jewel originally was named Texas. No, many say it was
a different location and looked different. Could be two story bldg.
It would be great for you to solve this for us. We are mostly in
our 70's and 80's so some can't remember anything.
Hope you can help!
Thanks, Sylvia Jo Smith, October 02, 2018
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1907 Galveston
County postal map showing Texas City
(Under "V" in "GALVESTON")
on Galveston Bay, across from Port
Bolivar
Courtesy Texas General Land Office
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