< Previous30 | The Daily News | Celebrating 175 Years MAJOR STORIES THROUGH THE YEARSWillard Richardson from at least 1868 to the last days of his life had advocated in the pages of The Daily News for the deepening of the Galveston Harbor, portraying it as the island’s passage to its future.By then, with the Civil War past and Reconstruction underway, railroad companies had begun rapidly extending their physical and economic reach, and Houston was challenging Galveston’s primacy as the principal Gulf Coast port in the vast sweep between New Orleans and Veracruz, Mexico.Seaborne arrivals to Galveston at the time had to be offloaded onto so-called lighters to bring their wares ashore, even as shipyards were cranking out larger and heavier ships with ever deeper drafts.Even Mother Nature wasn’t helping matters. While the Houston shipping channel, scrubbed by the current, remained passable to the largest of ships, sand had begun to shoal inside and out of Galveston’s harbor, reducing its depth in places to 8 feet.The city, led by the island’s great benefactor Henry Rosenberg, formed a Board of Harbor Improvements, which raised $15,000 and embraced a plan calling for a series of cedar pilings to be driven off the island’s east end.The plan worked, concentrating the current to scour the seabed — but the harbor remained inaccessible to the heaviest ships.What was needed was a harbor 26 or more feet deep, a first-class harbor, experts in the matter agreed. The Daily News joined in, avowing that nothing less than Galveston’s economic survival was at stake.Delegations lobbied Congress, given that only federal coffers were sufficiently endowed to finance such a project; it required an estimated sum of $7 million — $184 million in today’s dollars.They got nowhere, until, finally, Congress relented in 1890, 22 years after Richardson, then the publisher and co-owner of The Daily News, had first pushed for deepening Galveston’s harbor — and 15 years after his death.The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1890 committed the U.S. Treasury to spending $6.2 million for Galveston’s harbor.President Benjamin Harrison on Sept. 19 signed the bill into law, and The Daily News’ headlines the following morning — Sept. 20, 1890 — exulted: TIME TO REJOICE.“Galveston Has Many Reasons to Shout and Be Happy.“After Patient Watching, Disappointments and Suffering the Bill Which Makes Galveston a Great City Becomes a Law.”An unnamed correspondent, filing his report from Washington, D.C., noted that the bill had passed despite opposition from others along the Texas coast.“The news which came in this morning about 11 o’clock from Cresson Springs, where the president is adjourning, stated that he had signed the river and harbor bill. …“Texas gets about $7,000,000 under it, an amount which ought to satisfy the most voracious of her citizens. The great bulk of this appropriation, however, goes to Galveston. …“There were several points on the Texas coast which worked against the Galveston idea because they thought that the appropriation of such a great amount to the Galveston harbor meant little or no appropriation for them. Then there were private schemes of different kinds which opposed the Galveston appropriation. It is unnecessary to go over the whole story here. It is an interesting but lengthy one. …“Senator [Richard] Coke is entitled to the great credit of having passed the first bill appropriating $6,200,000 direct both in the senate commerce committee and the senate, without a dissenting voice against it. …“Now that the bill has become a law, the matter of preparing to commence the work on the harbor will be entered actively into. Mr. [Walter] Gresham will call at the war department to-morrow to have a conference with the engineers to draw plans and specifications for the completion of the work, as now authorized by law, on which advertisement for bids will be made.”The Daily News — then owned and published by Alfred Belo, who, in 1885, had launched a sister publication, today known as The Dallas Morning News — applauded the paper’s dogged shepherding of the legislation.Hard-won water fightBY TOM BASSINGGALVESTON HARBOR DEEPENINGDavid Scott of the U.S. Coast Guard walks through a passenger bridge way overlooking the port while taking a tour of the Port of Galveston’s Cruise Termi-nal No. 2 during the 2017 Port of Galveston Community Open House. STUART VILLANUEVACONGRATULATIONS ON 175!We create signs for your business.5302 Broadway, Galveston, TX 77551409-744-7164 • www.absignshop.comProfessionally designed and installed by A B signWe at A B Sign Shop are proud to help set the stage for the next 175 years!Out with the old ... in with the new Celebrating 175 Years | The Daily News | 31Galveston harbor in 1896. ROSENBERG LIBRARY“For almost a quarter of a century, The News, first as a single publication at Galveston and next as a joint publication at Galveston and Dallas, has contended for the establishment of a deepwater entrance to Galveston harbor,” Belo wrote in an editorial. “For almost a quarter of a century it has waged a continuous campaign for this cause without wearying or wavering, without relaxing or relenting, sometimes with the aid of and encouragement of outside influence, sometimes alone and unencouraged, and occasionally even in the face of strong opposition from antagonized and antagonizing interests; but always and under all circumstances in view the best interests of Texas and the Southwest. … The struggle has been long and severe, but at length The News has the proud satisfaction that its efforts have been crowned with final success.”Soon enough, the Port of Galveston would accommodate the largest of cargo ships, including the Algoa, a British steamer with a previously unheard of 21-foot draft.By 1896, the historian David McComb noted in his seminal history of Galveston, “[t]he size of vessels using the port jumped by 24 percent. In the next few years Galveston exports increased by 55 percent, and imports by 37 percent.”Today, the Port of Galveston, with a depth of 45 feet, ranks as the nation’s fourth-busiest port for cruise ships, the anchorage’s principal source of revenue.MAJOR STORIES THROUGH THE YEARS32 | The Daily News | Celebrating 175 Years By the time the Great Fire of 1885 had burned itself out, a 100-acre swath of Galveston Island lay in ruins.The following morning, Saturday, Nov. 14, headlines in The Galveston Daily News amply described the catastrophe:A GREAT HOLOCAUST.More Than Forty Blocks of Buildings Destroyed.100 Acres in the Heart of the City Laid Bare.About 2,300 People Made Homeless at a Single Blow.The first alert sounded during the previous day’s witching hours.“About 1:45 o’clock yesterday morning the alarm bell gave the signal which foretold one of the most dire conflagrations which has ever devastated Galveston Island, sweeping as it did almost from bay to gulf across the island, destroying in its path some of the most elegant residences of Galveston, and reducing to ashes a portion of the city in territorial area about 100 acres, all thickly populated and embracing about forty squares, with nothing now to mark the place where stately residences once stood save a number of ghostly chimneys and an occasional bare wall where a brick building chanced to be in the wake of the devouring flames.“The holocaust was confined to the residence portion of the city, composed almost entirely of frame buildings, where scarcely a vestige remains over the burned district to outline the places where the houses so recently stood, some palatial mansions and others less pretentious, but all bearing the happy name of home to several thousand people who today are homeless.”The blaze ignited after a foundry’s furnace was left lit and unattended — and fanned by nature’s indifference.“The flames were first discovered in the rear of what was known as the Vulcan foundry, and while the direct origin can not be traced, it is supposed to have occurred from the leaving of fire in the furnace, which may have been fanned into flames by the stiff gale which prevailed during the night. This foundry was located on Strand, between Sixteenth and Seventeenth streets, and the fire was first seen in the rear of the foundry, on the alley between Strand and Avenue A, about the location of the furnace.Few buildings still stand at 19th and Postoffice streets after The Great Fire of 1885. ROSENBERG LIBRARYBY TOM BASSINGCovering the catastropheTHE GREAT FIRE“THE SCENE WAS SUBLIME IN ITS VERY AWFULNESS, AND TO THE LOOKERS-ON IT SOON BECAME APPARENT THAT ALL EFFORTS WOULD BE USELESS IN TRYING TO CHECK THE HEADSTRONG FURY OF THE FLAMES.”THE GALVESTON DAILY NEWS, NOV. 14, 1885CLEAR LAKE MOVERS, INCLocally Owned & OperatedServing the Houston Metro Area since 1995Clear Lake Movers is a proud member of the League City Chamber of CommerceFree Phone QuotesBoxes DeliveredWe Do It All!Fully Insured and Bonded• Free Phone & In-House Estimates• High Rise Specialist• Furniture Delivery• Local/Long Distance Moving (In State, Out of State)• Complete Packing & Unpacking Services• Move in/Move out cleaning & Make-ready• Storage Available (Climate Controlled & Non-Climate Controlled)• College Dorm Moving ServicesHomes • ApartmentsTownhouses • CondosResidential• High Rise Specialist• Free Phone & In-Office Estimates• Trade Show & Exhibit Delivery• Modular & Cubicle Disassemble & Reassemble• Complete Packing & Unpacking Services• Custom Crating & Uncrating• Disassembly & Reassembly of Furniture• Palletizing• Hospital & Medical Equipment• Storage Available• Restaurant EquipmentOffices • WarehousesComputers • ElectronicsCommercialLeague City1600 West League City Pkwy.281-332-3521Friendswood601 S. Friendswood Dr. #103281-819-4280Galveston222 Kempner409-763-4641Santa Fe13229 FM 1764409-925-3800Texas City905 Logan409-948-1771Galveston - West End 13680 FM 3005409-737-1488Congratulations to The Daily News“Wherever your business is, there we are”Since 1893 Celebrating 175 Years | The Daily News | 3334 | The Daily News | Celebrating 175 Years MAJOR STORIES THROUGH THE YEARS“It was some time after the discovery of the fire that a general alarm was sounded; hence a consequent delay of the arrival of the fire department. Add to this the very defective working of the waterworks and the fact from 2 to 4 o’clock a.m. the wind registered a velocity of thirty miles an hour.”Most of Galveston’s building and housing stock at the time was built of wood — much still is today — and with the near-gale-force wind blowing from the northeast, the fire quickly burned toward the Gulf.“The flames soon spread with startling rapidity, and within a very few minutes were being blown a solid sheet of fire across Strand street, catching the frame buildings on the opposite or south side. While the fire department was very severely criticized, mainly by those opposed to the recent change to a paid system, they did, under the circumstances, about all that could be done with the limited number of men in the service, and after the flames had crossed the block between Strand and Mechanic and Sixteenth and Seventeenth streets the combined fire departments of the State would have proved ineffectual to overcome their progress.“On the northwest corner of the block between Strand and Mechanic and Sixteenth and Seventeenth streets was a lumber yard, at which every effort was directed to prevent its burning, as the high piles of dry lumber in flames would have been but kindling to the general fire.“The high wind, however, carried sparks and large pieces of blazing embers high up over house tops and through the air with a force that wafted them several squares ahead of the flames as death dealing couriers to announce the dire and inevitable result.”Homeowners and others rushed to remove whatever belongings could be saved. They had underestimated the firestorm’s fever.“The scene was sublime in its very awfulness, and to the lookers-on it soon became apparent that all efforts would be useless in trying to check the headstrong fury of the flames, and then attention was turned toward trying to save what was possible of the effects of the houses in the immediate march of the storm-beaten flames. All volunteered to give a helping hand in this, and houses for blocks around were stripped of their contents, which were carried, as it was thought, out of danger — those living on the gulf front, who were busy in assisting their distressed neighbors living along the bay side, little dreaming that they would be called to the preservation of their own families and firesides.”Eventually, the fire, having consumed virtually everything in its path, encountered open ground.“The block between Eighteenth and Nineteenth and M½ and N, was consumed with the exception of one cottage on the northwest corner of the block. Petering out for want of food, and being offered some resistance by an engine that was placed here, the great fire was stopped at O, not, however, until it had destroyed the block between 19th and 20th and N and N½, and between 19th and 20th and N½ and O, excepting three small cottages on the south-west corner of the block.“The limit was reached about 6:30 or 7 o’clock, and within the space of about five hours over forty blocks of Galveston’s buildings succumbed to the flames.”All told, the terrible fire destroyed 568 houses, yet, miraculously, there is no evidence that a single life was lost.The Great Fire destroyed nearly everything in its path as seen here at the corner of 18th and Postoffce Streets. ROSENBERG LIBRARYProtect your worldAuto • Home • Life • Retirement5928 Stewart RoadGalvestonwww.allstate.com/seanodonohoeThe O’Donohoe Agency LLC409-744-1888Insurance subject to terms, qualifications and availability. 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Celebrating 175 Years | The Daily News | 3536 | The Daily News | Celebrating 175 Years MAJOR STORIES THROUGH THE YEARSAs the sun rose to its height in Galveston on Sept. 7, 1900, it brought about another unbearably hot and humid day in what had already been an unbearably hot and humid summer.Yet, the following day, a Saturday, brought relief. Low-hanging, black clouds began to build to the east and northeast, and a brisk, preternaturally cool breeze swept the island.Delighted residents took to their verandas or headed down to the beach where heavy waves had begun to pound the shore. There was a sense of holiday in the air even as the surge began to swamp the island’s lowest-lying areas.Few intuited the arriving peril, which later that day, amid ferocious wind and rain and cascading sea, would leave no fewer than 6,000 people dead, victims of what came to be known as the 1900 Storm.The Galveston Daily News that Saturday morning had noted rain in the forecast — but offered no notion of what truly loomed. It did include an article reporting that the latest U.S. Census showed 8,000 people had moved to the island in the previous decade, an unknown number of whom were among the doomed.It wasn’t until the following Wednesday that the newspaper regained its footing and attempted to describe the enormity of what had befallen the island.The paper’s somber, grim account began with an acknowledgment that Galveston and the surrounding area had fallen victim to “one of the greatest catastrophes in the world’s history.”“Words are too weak to express the horror, the awfulness, of the storm itself; to even faintly picture the scene of devastation, wreck and ruin, misery, suffering and grief,” an unnamed editor wrote. “Even those who were miraculously saved after terrible experiences, who were spared to learn that their families and properties have been swept away, spared to witness scenes as horrible as the eye of man ever looked upon — even those cannot tell the story.The angriest seaTHE 1900 STORMBY TOM BASSINGLooking west on Broadway from 13th Street after the 1900 Storm. ROSENBERG LIBRARY Celebrating 175 Years | The Daily News | 37MAJOR STORIES THROUGH THE YEARS“There are stories of horrible deaths, thousands of stories of individual heroism, stories of wonderful rescues and escapes, each of which at another time would be a marvel in itself and would command the interest of the world. But in a time like this, when a storm so intense in its fury, so prolonged in its work of destruction, so wide in its scope and infinitely terrible in its consequences has swept an entire city and neighboring towns for many miles on either side, the human mind cannot comprehend all of the horror, cannot learn or know all of the dreadful particulars. One stands speechless and powerless to relate even that which he has felt and knows. …“The storm came not without warning, but the danger which threatened was not realized, not even when the storm was upon the city. Friday night the sea was angry. Saturday morning it had grown in fury and the wrecking of beach resorts began. The wind came at a terrific rate from the north. Still men went to their business and about their work, while hundreds went to the beach to witness the grand spectacle which the raging sea presented. As the hours rolled on the wind gained in velocity and the waters crept higher and higher. The wind changed from the north to the northeast, and the water came in from the bay, filling the streets. Men attempted to reach their homes in carriages, wagons, boats, afoot, in any way possible. …“Still the wind increased in velocity, even after it seemed impossible that it should be more swift. It changed from east to southeast, veering constantly, calming for a second, and then coming with awful, terrific jerks, so terrible in their power that no building could withstand them, and none wholly escaped injury. The maximum velocity of the wind will never be known. The gauge at the weather bureau registered 100 miles an hour and blew away at 5:10 o’clock. But the storm at that hour was as nothing when compared with what followed and the maximum velocity must have been as great as 120 miles an hour. The most intense period and the most anxious time was between 8:30 and 9 o’clock. With a raging sea rolling around them, with a wind so terrific that none could hope to escape its fury, with roofs being torn away and buildings crashing all around them, men, women and children were huddled in buildings, caught like rats, expecting to be crushed to death or drowned in the sea, yet cut off from escape. …“And all during the terrible storm acts of the greatest heroism were performed. Hundreds and hundreds of brave men, as brave as the world ever knew, buffeted with the waves and rescued hundreds and hundreds of their fellow men. …Then, like that, the storm passed and the full scope of the horror came to light.“Sunday morning came and bright sunshine fell upon a wrecked city,” the report continued. “Everywhere was wreck and ruin, everywhere was death and desolation. The streets were a tangle of debris, of broken timbers, brick and mortar, tangled wires and poles. Human bodies and the carcasses of animals lay all around. And yet the awfulness of the calamity was not felt. The mortality was estimated at 150 to 300; men put away the horrible thought that a greater number of their fellow men had perished. But every hour since then has brought fresh knowledge of the work of the storm, and estimates of the dead have passed into the thousands, until now it appears that the population of the city has been decimated.”With the ground initially sodden, those charged with the grim task of disposing of the dead realized the bodies couldn’t immediately be buried, and immediacy was of the utmost given the decomposition all around as the summer’s awful heat returned.Some bodies were sent out and buried at sea. In the calm after the storm, it was deemed that fires could be safely set with debris — the wreckage of a city — serving as fuel, and bodies were piled atop the pyres.The gruesome work continued amid hope that help soon would arrive.“Cut off from all rail communication, cut off from telegraphic communication, absolutely cut off from the outside world, the people of Galveston have gone ahead with their appalling task, confident that the world would come to their relief as speedily as possible,” the account continued. “Help is needed and needed quickly.”The disaster spurred the building of the 17-foot-tall seawall, on which work began in 1902 and continued through 1963.That, and vast improvements in hurricane prediction, have seen to it that such a toll has never recurred on the otherwise still vulnerable island.Four men stand on debris from The Grand 1894 Opera House after the 1900 Storm. ROSENBERG LIBRARYThis map shows the extent of destruction. Most Galvestonians died south of Broadway. ROSENBERG LIBRARY38 | The Daily News | Celebrating 175 Years MAJOR STORIES THROUGH THE YEARSOn a brisk and sunny Wednesday morning in April 1947, a cargo ship loaded with thousands of tons of quietly smoldering ammonium nitrate suddenly exploded in port, demolishing much of Texas City.The tremendous blast generated such a tremor that a seismograph in Denver, 1,005 miles away, recorded the shock in a jittered scrawl.By the time a second, similarly devastating blast came 16 hours later — at 1:10 a.m., April 17, 1947 — a reporter for The Daily News named Roy E. Hanna was rushing to the scene.“I was driving along highway No. 146 and had reached the Republic Refining Corporation,” Hanna reported in time for that morning’s edition of the paper.“Suddenly, I looked up and noticed what appeared to be a floating rainbow rising gently into the black, smoke filled skies above.“At first I thought it was a butane tank at Monsanto, but after an investigation found it to be another ship.”It was the S.S. High Flyer, which crews had tried but failed to tow from the port before it exploded.“After I saw what was happening, I jumped out of my jeep, left it running in the road and hit the dirt in a ditch to seek protection. The ditch was full of gas and stagnant water, and I crawled into a drainage pipe to avoid the falling fragments of steel that whistled through the air like heavy artillery and showered the area for a mile or more. …”The explosions — first in the hold of the S.S. Grandcamp and then in that of the High Flyer — killed more than 600 people in what remains, still today, the nation’s worst industrial disaster.Windows were shattered as far off as Baytown, 25 miles across the water, and, too, in Galveston.“Mounting casualty lists from hospitals and aid stations showed that at least 400 persons were dead and over 700 were injured,” the April 17 lead story in The Daily News reported. “Rescue workers early Thursday still were struggling to give help to the injured yet unaided and to care for the bodies of the dead.“Estimates of the total number of deaths ranged from 450 to 1,200. Injuries were reported from one source at 4,000. Only a small portion of the 800 Monsanto employees were reportedly located. …“Almost every building was damaged, and many were uninhabitable. Many persons both in Texas City and elsewhere were still trying to learn the fate of relatives and friends. …“Virtually three-fifths of the industrial might of the petroleum, chemical and sugar shipping center was obliterated.”An official report on the disaster was released two weeks later.“A fire discovered by stevedores preparing to resume loading of ammonium nitrate aboard the S.S. Grandcamp at Warehouse (Pier) O, about 8 a.m., April 16, 1947, resulted in the first of two disastrous explosions at 9:12 a.m., which destroyed the entire dock area, numerous oil tanks, the Monsanto Chemical Company, numerous dwellings and business buildings,” the report began. “The second explosion resulted from a fire in ammonium nitrate aboard the S.S. High Flyer, which occurred some sixteen hours later at 1:10 a.m. …“Approximately 1,000 residences and business buildings suffered either major structural damage or were totally destroyed. … Drill stems 30 feet long, 6 3/8 inches in diameter, Disaster in the holdTHE TEXAS CITY DISASTERBY TOM BASSINGweight 2,700 pounds, part of the cargo of the S.S. Grandcamp, were found buried 6 feet in the clay soil a distance of 13,000 feet from the point of the explosion. …“All firemen and practically all spectators on the pier were killed as were many employees in the Monsanto Chemical Company and throughout the dock area. At this date, April 29, 1947, 433 bodies have been recovered and approximately 135 (many of whom were on the dock) are missing. … The exact casualties will probably never be known as many bodies were blown to pieces. …“Over 2,000 suffered injuries in varying degrees, among whom were many school children injured by flying glass fragments and debris in school buildings located about 6,000 feet distant.”Hanna, drenched from his ditch dive to escape the debris of the High Flyer’s explosion, ran to his jeep and sped back to The Daily News offices in downtown Galveston to type up his first-person account, which ran on that morning’s front page.“Four fire departments were reportedly at the docks fighting the fire,” he wrote in conclusion. “Some reports indicated there were several hundred persons in the area, and I wonder how any could have survived.” Celebrating 175 Years | The Daily News | 39MAJOR STORIES THROUGH THE YEARS(LEFT) Aerial view of Texas City on April 16, 1947 after a French ship loaded with ammonium nitrate exploded in the harbor area, torching part of the city. CARL E. LINDE/AP FILE (BELOW) The Galveston Daily News on April 17, 1947. DAILY NEWS FILE“I WAS DRIVING ALONG HIGHWAY NO. 146 AND HAD REACHED THE REPUBLIC REFINING CORPORATION. SUDDENLY, I LOOKED UP AND NOTICED WHAT APPEARED TO BE A FLOATING RAINBOW RISING GENTLY INTO THE BLACK, SMOKE FILLED SKIES ABOVE. AT FIRST I THOUGHT IT WAS A BUTANE TANK AT MONSANTO, BUT AFTER AN INVESTIGATION FOUND IT TO BE ANOTHER SHIP.”DAILY NEWS REPORTER ROY E. HANNANext >