Podcast: Galveston Island's Street Name Series - Downtown, A-F

Let's talk about Galveston's street names and how a few transform from an alphabetical system to a few creative and some not-so-creative names. In this multi-episode street name series, we are going to take a brief look at the naming of Galveston streets, starting with downtown Galveston and working our way north to south.

Throughout history, before carefully crafted street layouts, large cities usually grew organically. A small village would grow into a town, and depending on geographic significance, That town would transform into a city. Over time, windy and curvy streets are usually carved out because it's the easiest way to get from point A to point B, meandering and wandering around buildings and obstacles. These city streets could be hard to navigate, but some places, like Galveston, were settled and planned out intentionally. Early island residents designed their future city.

Galveston is laid out in a grid pattern - super complicated, right? But this made it easier to get around and divvy out parcels of land, which would come in handy in the growing Republic of Texas. In 1836, the year Texas became a republic, the Galveston City Company was formed to sell a dream... real estate. They swiftly assembled a team of surveyors to map the land and plan the city from scratch. Drawing inspiration from the grand designs of Philadelphia and New York City, the surveyors developed a grid plan for Galveston Island.

While the design was a collective effort, two individuals are primarily credited for the layout of Galveston Island.

The first is Mr. Gale Borden, known for inventing condensed milk... and also, the meat biscuit, which didn't catch on quite like the milk. Gale Borden was born in New York in 1801. He arrived on the island in 1829, while Texas was still a part of Mexico and worked as a land surveyor throughout Texas. He also dipped his toes in newspaper publishing.

Gail Borden got to know Sam Houston, Mirabeau Lamar, and other big names in Texas history. Gail Borden did, in fact, survey Galveston Island. In 1837, he was appointed as tax collector for the Republic of Texas Port at Galveston. He also served as secretary and agent for the Galveston City Company for 12 years, from 1838 to 1851. He built a house near 34th Street and Avenue P and became the second largest landholder in town.

While here on the island, Gail Borden began experimenting with condensed milk, as well as a few other peculiar inventions. But he needed access to more investors and factories, and in 1851, he moved back to New York to pursue his condensed milk dreams.

Next up, we have John D. Groesbeck, who was born in Albany, New York in 1816. He was trained as a civil engineer, and came to Texas as a teenager. According to Mr. David McComb, A Galveston historian, while Groesbeck was in Galveston, he was the first wholesale druggist in Texas, he sold fine wines and spirits and was a commercial editor for Galveston's first newspaper and he completed his layout of Galveston in 1837.

While Borden was on the island earlier than Grosbeck, both men are credited for the survey and the layout. A grid layout for Galveston Island would have been the most obvious design to everyone involved, as with many other cities with geographical potential, and in Galveston's case, that potential was to have a major port.

Moving on to the street names, the decision to assign alphabetical and numerical names to the streets was a collective one. In this episode, we're going to be focused on the alphabetical streets.

Picture a bird's-eye view of Galveston Island with Galveston Bay to the north and the Gulf to the south, the horizontal roads running roughly east to west beginning with Avenue A in the north and ending with Avenue U in the south.

The original plan only plotted to Avenue Q, So Avenues R, S, T, and U had to be added as the city grew, but we'll get into that a little bit later. From the 1830s to 1900, Galveston grew at an astonishing clip. From just a few thousand people in the early days to just about 37,000 by the time the 1900 storm struck the island. Over those 60-plus years, some of the original alphabetical street names fell out of function. Many have been renamed to reflect a notable feature on the island.

Avenue A, the closest Street to the Port of Galveston, was originally known as Water Street. It was essentially a bayside beach that would be inundated with water during extreme high tides. Today, this Street is known as Harborside Drive. For over a century and a half, this road has been the center of the island's shipping and maritime economy.

On the very first plat map of the city of Galveston, Avenue B was called Common Street, but that was the first and only time it would bear that name. Avenue B, the next closest Street to the Port of Galveston, became the city's warehouse, banking, and economic hub, reminiscent of London's Strand Street. In German and Old English, the word "Strand" or "Strond" also means along the water or riverbank. Local Galveston lore suggests that Texas's first jeweler, Michael W. Shaw, in a strategic plan to give the Street a more illustrious name, began using the name Strand as the address to his jewelry shop on his letterhead. And as the story goes, other businesses on Avenue B began to do the same. The name Strand was adopted by Galvestonians, and to this day, Avenue B is known as The Strand.

Avenue C eventually became known as Ship's Mechanic Row. It forged its name throughout the 19th century when it was an essential hub for the island shipping industry. Located just two blocks from the Port of Galveston, Avenue C is where most of the blacksmiths and ship mechanics could be found. So the captains and crew of ships calling the Port of Galveston wouldn't have to travel very far to have their vessel fixed. Throughout the late 1800s, as the Port of Galveston was booming, Ships Mechanic Row, or Mechanic Street, became the epitome of commercial mixed-use. Multi-story buildings were constructed for warehouse space on the first floor and offices on the second and above, with hands-on ship services intermixed up and down the Street.

Avenue D, also known as Market Street. Although Market Street is three blocks away from the wharves at the Port of Galveston, adding the name Market Street to Avenue D has deep ties to the early economy of the city and the Port of Galveston. While the city was little more than a large village in the 1820s and 30s, Galveston relied heavily on imports from the United States, other parts of Texas, and right across Galveston Bay.

Before major dredging projects deepened and widened the ship channel. Shallow draft vessels were the only ones that could confidently enter and exit the port without hitting a sandbar. The deepest portion of the Port of Galveston was between modern-day 18th Street and 21st Street. When vessels would arrive with their imports, an open air market sprung up, and goods would be sold directly off the boat, right along the shoreline, or on the long wooden finger piers extending out into Galveston Bay. As the city's population grew along 20th Street, this open-air market extended from modern-day Avenue B, or Strand, to modern-day Avenue D, or Market Street. In 1846, a 260-foot-long structure was built to serve as both a produce market and as a city hall, with the ground floor originally housing 34 meat, vegetable, and coffee stalls, with the city officials, including the police department, and a large public meeting hall located on the second floor. The front of this market building and city hall faced Avenue D, and of course, Galvestonians began referring to Avenue D as Market Street.

And just an additional note, this City Hall on Market Street was replaced in 1888 with an elaborate Nicholas Clayton designed brick and stone building. This City Hall was damaged beyond repair during the 1900 storm. minimally patched up and used for various city services and purposes throughout the year until its demolition in 1966.

Avenue E and Avenue F, known today as Postoffice and Church Streets. Avenue E being renamed "Postoffice" may make a lot of sense. The Post Office was located within the 1861 Federal Court and Customs House on the corner of Avenue E and 20th Street. However, this street name may seem peculiar when you see it written down or on a street sign: "Postoffice" is spelled as one word, and today, it might even throw you off. The current post office is no longer on Postoffice Street. Galveston's East End post office is currently on Avenue F...or Church Street.

Avenue F housed some of the oldest churches on Galveston Island. It was the home to the First Presbyterian Church on 19th Street, founded in 1840, and St. Mary's Cathedral on 21st Street., founded in 1847. Although not the original 1840s structures, Both of these churches exist today.

On the next episode in this series, we will make our way south. And don't forget, in Galveston, post office is one word.