The place file / Gulf Coast
Galveston,
Texas
After the 1900 hurricane the city built a seawall and then raised itself behind it.
Two thousand buildings, on jackscrews, turned by hand.
Salty Seniors place guide
Could I live here?The draw
A Gulf island at a third of Key West’s price
The catch
The Gulf has been here before
The question
What will the insurance cost?
The city that jacked itself up
On September 8, 1900, a hurricane put the whole of Galveston under water. At least 6,000 people died, and probably closer to 8,000. It is still the deadliest natural disaster in American history.
The city did not move. It built a seawall, five metres high and now more than 16 kilometres long. Then it raised the ground behind it. Between 1903 and 1911 about 2,000 buildings were lifted on jackscrews, turned by hand, while sand was pumped in underneath. St. Patrick’s Church weighed 3,000 tons and went up a metre and a half on 700 jacks.
On June 19, 1865, a Union general stood in Galveston and read out the order that told Texas slavery was over. That is Juneteenth.
In 2008 Hurricane Ike killed about 40,000 of the island’s trees with salt water. Residents had the stumps carved into dolphins, angels and birds, and left them standing where they grew.
The water is brown. It is river silt, not dirt, and it is not going to change.
What stays open year-round?
Everything. Galveston is a city of 54,000 with a medical school, a cruise port and a downtown of iron-fronted Victorian buildings. Summer is the busy season, when Houston comes down for the weekend. Winter is mild and quiet, and you can park.
What will summer ask of you?
Stamina and a plan. It is hot and very humid from May to October, and hurricane season runs June through November. The seawall protects the Gulf side. In 2008 Ike sent its surge around the back, through the bay, and put more than two metres of water in the historic downtown. When an evacuation is called, you go.
How close is the care you need?
Very. The University of Texas Medical Branch is on the island, a teaching hospital with a Level I trauma centre. The Texas Medical Center in Houston, one of the largest in the world, is about 80 km up the interstate. Few towns this size have that much medicine within an hour.
Could you live without a car?
In the East End and downtown, more or less. Those neighbourhoods are flat, old and walkable. The rest of the island is 43 km long and built for driving, and Houston is an hour away by interstate, with no train. The ferry to the Bolivar Peninsula is free and runs around the clock.
What does a house cost?
The median sale was about US$350,000 to US$400,000 in 2026, which is cheap for a house near a beach. The price is not the whole bill. On the island the state’s windstorm pool is for practical purposes the only wind insurer, and flood cover is separate. Get both quotes first, and ask what the house did in Ike.
Coming from Canada?
Fly to Houston and drive an hour south. Canadians can generally stay up to six months in any twelve as visitors. If you cross by land and stay 30 days or more, you now have to register with the U.S. government, unless you were given an I-94 at the border.
