StoryMap Exhibit of 1900 Storm Damage

Men searching through debris after the Storm of 1900, G_1771.7_FF7_3, Galveston Photographic Subject Files: Storm of 1900. Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas.

On Saturday night, September 8, 1900, a massive hurricane struck Galveston, Texas. The hurricane killed approximately 8,000 people on the island and several thousand more on the mainland. Galveston suffered an estimated $30 million worth of property damage. It remains to this day the deadliest storm to ever hit the United States.

Galveston & Texas History Center has published a StoryMap exhibit containing images of 45 places across Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula damaged by the Storm, including St. Mary's Orphanage, the Grand 1894 Opera House, Garten Verein, and Central High School. Many of the places are still standing today. Others were severely damaged or destroyed by the Storm but were repaired/rebuilt soon afterward, as was the rest of the city within a year after the hurricane's fury.

The exhibit is arranged by type/purpose of building: municipal, social, medical, orphanages, educational, religious, business/commercial, shipping, and residential.

You can view the exhibit at this link on the 1900 Storm research page.