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Business View Magazine
The Port of Galveston
Star port of the lone star state
The Port of Galveston, located on the upper Texas coast
on the eastern end of Galveston Island, has a long and
storied history. The area was discovered by the Spanish
explorer, Juan de Grijalva in 1519, and the island be-
came the base of operations for the French-American pi-
rate and privateer, Jean Lafitte, in the early 19th century.
In 1825, the Congress of Mexico designated Galveston a
provisional port and customs entry point - an act which
was repeated by the Congress of the United States in
1837, even though the government of Mexico refused to
recognize Texas as an independent territory. In 1854, six
years after the Mexican War ended in a decisive Ameri-
can victory, the State of Texas joined various dock and
warehousing interests together to form the Galveston
Wharf and Cotton Press Company.
By 1900, Galveston was the leading U.S. port for the ex-
port of cotton, and the third most important for the ex-
port of wheat. In September of that same year, the Great
Galveston Hurricane, with winds of 145 miles per hour,
made landfall, resulting in the deaths of thousands of
people and the devastation of the City of Galveston and
