Galveston Historical Foundation

The foundation's growth came under its first full-time professional, executive director Peter Brink, hired in the 1970s. The foundation helped win the 1979 East End Historic District and formed the Silk Stocking Historic Precinct. It set up a county museum in the former City National Bank Building and later took on others, among them St. Joseph's Church of 1859 and an observation floor high in the American National tower. Membership rose from 1,200 in 1974 to 3,000 by 1991, the year the Texas Historical Commission gave it a Governor's Award for Historic Preservation.

What the plaque says

Galveston Historical Foundation In 1871, twelve men formed the Galveston Historical Society to preserve the history of Texas by collecting important documents. The group and its archive grew, but in 1880, the secretary died, telling no one where to find the collection. In 1885, the Society found it and placed it in the care of Phillip C. Tucker, Jr., and his son. Interest in the group waned, but in 1894, new energy led to its reorganization as the Texas Historical Society. New members included Rabbi Henry Cohen and Elbridge G. Littlejohn, as well as several women. They began storing the collection, most of which had been salvaged after Galveston's tragic 1900 storm, at the Rosenberg Library in 1906. In 1931, they gave the library full ownership. After several inactive years, the Society was resurrected in 1942 under its old name and turned to preserving historic landmarks, publishing a booklet in 1951 of the island's significant homes. In 1954, one of those homes, the 1830s Williams-Tucker House, was threatened. The Society, unable by its charter to acquire property, formed a new group, the Galveston Historical Foundation, which purchased the home and restored it. In 1958, the two groups merged as the Galveston Historical Foundation. Over the next 50 years, the group saved buildings and helped establish historic districts, including The Strand, one of the largest extant Victorian business districts in the South. After celebrating its 130th year in 2001, the nationally acclaimed Foundation continues its leadership role in revitalization, museum operation, education, property management and preservation advocacy. (2006)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Strand — 0.2 mi
  Five blocks of iron-front brick buildings near the harbor that were once called the Wall Street of the Southwest, emptied after 1900 and brought back by preservationists from the 1960s.
• Texas Seaport Museum and the Elissa — 0.3 mi
  An iron barque launched in Aberdeen in 1877 that called at Galveston twice, ended up smuggling in the Adriatic, and was bought back from a Greek scrapyard to sail again from Pier 22.
• 1859 Ashton Villa — 0.4 mi
  A brick Italianate house on Broadway, built with enslaved labor in 1859, whose lawn has held Galveston's Juneteenth commemoration of General Orders, No. 3 every year since 1979.
• 1892 Bishop's Palace — 0.5 mi
  Nicholas Clayton's stone house on Broadway for the railroad lawyer Walter Gresham, later home to Galveston's Catholic bishops and one of the most admired Victorian houses in the country.

More markers nearby

• American National Insurance Company — steps away
• Old Galveston Market House and City Hall — steps away
• Site of Galveston Seminary — steps away
• George Campbell Childress — steps away