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The Martini family is a household name in Galveston.
At one point, the Martini family owned eight theaters, one of them was opened in Galveston‘s Black Business District. The George W. Carver theater was opened in 1940. This theater was opened specifically for African-American audiences.. The George W Carver theater operated for 19 years until 1959.  The theater was converted into a Spanish language theatre directed at Hispanic audiences. The Theatre was renamed Teatro Rey. In the 1970s, the theater changed hands and was named the La Plaza theater until it closed in 1979. The shell of this theater today stands as a reminder of segregation, marginalization, and eventual racial integration.

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Galveston's main business street, famously known as the Strand, in the late eighteen  hundreds, was dubbed as the Wall Street of the South West, due to the influx of port vessel traffic and establishment of numerous financial institutions.  The Strand's ornate Victorian buildings  are still the envy of cities all over the country. 
Throughout the 19th century, the port city of Galveston boomed; and the Strand, which is very close to the harbor, grew into the region’s main business center.  The Strand, and downtown Galveston, is a National Historic Landmark.

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The nuns in new Orleans made plans to travel to Galveston, Texas to establish Ursuline academy in the fledgling city on the Gulf coast. The Ursuline academy at Galveston also served as a convent and was established in February of 1847.  The school was on a 10 acre campus on avenue in and 25th street. 
Today Ave N is also known as Ursuline Street. During the battle of Galveston, the nuns at the convent flew their yellow undergarments to mark themselves as a community of nuns.

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Commercial Icon of Galveston’s historic Strand & Civil War Battleground

The Hendley building also known as Hendley row. Constructed between 1855 and 1859. When this building was constructed, 20th street was considered the centerline of the city. This Greek Revival style building or buildings are the oldest commercial structure on Strand. When looking at the front of the building from Strand, you will see that the structure is actually four separate units divided by granite blocks. If you look closely on the granite dividing blocks, you can see the initials of the building owners carved into the granite. The row of buildings was built in order to facilitate the busy Kuhn’s Wharf and to be utilized as a headquarters of a shipping line between Galveston and New York City. New shipping lines were a common occurrence in Galveston in the late 1800s. As Galveston was the closest port to facilitate expansion to the American West. The Hendley building was used to initiate the confederate armies attack on the union Navy on New Year’s Day 1863. On the 20th St. facing side of the building, you will be able to spot cannonball or shell damage on one of the granite pillars. The Hendley building has been home to warehouses, offices, produce distributors, banks, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and even the Galveston historical foundation in recent years. Now, the building is home to many shops for locals and tourist to enjoy on the Historic Strand!

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The 1937 Federal Building located at 601 25th St, Galveston, TX 

This building is one of Galveston‘s court houses, post office, and customs house. Built in 1937 and design by architect Alfred c. Fin, this building replaced an earlier Federal building and post office on the same site. It has been home to a number of federal agencies and at one point housed the Galveston Bureau of the national weather service. Originally the building held the post office on the first floor, the postal inspectors on the second floor, various government offices on the third floor, the customs department on the fourth floor, grand jury space on the fifth floor, judges US attorneys US marshals in the ceremonial court room on the six floor, and finally on the seventh floor, cotton classifying rooms, the Bureau of Navigation, and the Bureau of Agriculture. The Art Deco style is distinctive in Galveston, as it stands out for most of Galveston‘s late 1800 buildings. It is noted that both the design and location of the building serves as a symbol of the high power of the federal government. At the time of designing the building in the 1930s, it was a practice of the day that the art deco style use regional materials whenever possible. The stone on the outer edges of the building is porous fossiliferous limestone, a rock typically found in coastal areas. As a rendition of one of Galveston‘s federal buildings, the building still houses many federal agencies and continues to stand strong in Galveston’s skyline.

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Transcript:
The Texas Heroes Monument is at the intersection of Broadway and Rosenberg Avenue. The statue was sculpted by Louis Amateis, an Italian sculptor and artist. The Statue was created to commemorate the people who fought for Texas during the Texas revolution against Mexico. The Texas Heroes Monument is made mostly of light gray granite with the statue made of bronze. The four sides of the monument represent values such as Patriotism, Courage, Honor, and Devotion.

The statue was commissioned by Henry Rosenberg after his death in 1893 by a generous donation of $50,000 Henry Rosenberg was a Swiss immigrant and prominent businessman who loved Texas and the Galveston community. Mr. Rosenberg left a large amount of his fortune to be used on public projects to improved the city of Galveston including Rosenberg Library, and drinking water fountains.

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The Galveston-Port Bolivar ferry takes travelers on SH 87 between Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula.

The Galveston-Port bolivar ferry is a free 24 hour marine transportation system provided by the Texas Department of transportation. However, this ferry system is not the first to carry people and vehicles across the entrance to Galveston Bay. An official ferry service was not started until the railroads needed a method to move freight between the two points. The first ferries were essentially large barges that could accommodate entire trains including freight and passenger cars. The Gulf and Interstate Railway completed a line between Port bolivar in Beaumont in 1896 and used barges to cross Bolivar Roads completing the railroads link to Galveston. In the early 1900s, the ferries would accommodate train, walk on and, eventually vehicular traffic. The ferry system has been expanded and improved throughout its lifetime, with new and improved ferry vessels and ferry landings. The Bolivar Ferry is also considered one of Galveston‘s most popular free tourist attractions crossing through one of the busiest ship channels in the nation!

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Galveston Island is home to many firsts in Texas! Here are a few firsts that Galveston can claim!

First Naval base, post office, bakery, Masonic order, beach patrol, military company, cotton press law firm west of the Mississippi catholic convent, grocery store, railroad locomotive, insurance company, first telegraph & telephone, first private bank jewelry store, gas and electric lights, real estate firm, hospital and trade union, drug store, opera house, cotton exchange, orphanage, medical college, electric street cars, golf course and country club. Galveston was also the location of the first public library and all black high school.

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Do you ever wonder why this little island off of the coast of Texas is named "Galveston"?
What do the American Revolution, a Spanish Governor, and cattle drives have in common?
In the year 1777, a Spaniard named Bernardo de Galvez y Madrid became the Governor of Spanish Louisiana. He was ordered by the King of Spain to ramp up the assistance to the revolting American colonies against the British. This operation was dedicated on clearing the Mississippi River of British forces and made way for a supply line directly from New Spain to the American Colonies. His actions during the American revolution made him a hero in Spain and the newly formed united states. His name and actions live on throughout the United States, Texas, and even a small island on the Gulf coast of Texas. Bernardo De Galvez y Madrid Was named as an honorary U.S. Citizen in 2014.

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A Spanish explorer named Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca shipwrecked on what is believed to be Galveston Island in the year 1528. During an exploration mission, a portion of the Narváez expedition mistakenly landed on the west coast of Florida, thinking it was the East Coast of Mexico. After multiple conflicts with the natives along the Florida coast, the crew had no choice but to build rafts out of their surroundings and begin to float in the Gulf of Mexico and hope they drift towards new Spain. After weeks of drifting in the Gulf of Mexico,  Cabeza De Vaca, Mustafa Azemmouri, also known as Estavanico, and the rest of the tattered crew drifted onto Galveston Island.  Estávanico is the first African to be documented to have explored North America.  The Native people along the Gulf coast of New Spain assisted and eventually enslaved the crew. Estavanico and Cabeza de Vaca travelled North and Central America for years as medicine men until they stumbled upon a caravan of Spanish Explorers in the Sinaloa River Valley.

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