The Original Galveston Seawall

Henry Martyn Robert did more for Galveston than chair a board in 1900. A West Point graduate of 1857, he sat on the board of engineers that Grover Cleveland named in 1889 to pick a western Gulf port for federal development, and he chose Galveston. After the storm he returned as consulting chairman, and he came back after the waves of 1909 and 1915 to report on damage. He was also asked to help design a highway and railroad bridge to the mainland. His book of parliamentary rules had been in print since 1876.

What the plaque says

The Original Galveston Seawall On Sept. 8, 1900 a devastating hurricane and tidal wave destroyed much of Galveston and left 6000 persons dead. After the tragedy, the city appointed a board of three engineers, Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Henry M. Robert (1837-1923), author of "Robert's Rules of Order," Alfred Noble, and H. C. Ripley, to devise protection from future storms. Work on their proposal, to be financed jointly by city, county, and state governments, was started in 1902. To prevent flood damage, buildings were jacked up and the surface of the entire city upgraded, increasing the elevation to a maximum of 12 feet above sea level. As a shield against high waves, a solid concrete wall was built along the Gulf shore of the island. The original section of the seawall, begun in Oct. 1902, stretched 3.3 miles. Founded on wooden pilings, the 17-foot high barrier was backed by a sand embankment and protected in front by stone riprap. The Gulf side of the wall curved outward to prevent water from washing over the top. Finished in July 1904, the seawall proved its value in 1915, when a hurricane more severe than the storm 15 years earlier did far less damage. Since then, the wall has been periodically lengthened. Freed from the threat of further destruction, Galveston has grown into a modern and prosperous city. (1975)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Galveston Seawall and the 1900 Storm — steps away
  The concrete wall along the Gulf that Galveston built after the hurricane of September 8, 1900, which killed between 6,000 and 8,000 people in a city of 38,000.
• Moody Mansion — 2.2 mi
  A four-story, 28,000-square-foot house on Broadway, finished in 1895, that W. L. Moody Jr. bought just after the 1900 storm and his family kept until Hurricane Alicia in 1983.
• 1859 Ashton Villa — 2.3 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.
• The Strand — 2.7 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.

More markers nearby

• American Red Cross, Galveston County Chapter — steps away
• Peter Leroy Colombo — 0.5 mi
• Burial Site of David G. Burnet — 0.6 mi
• The Rev. Henry P. Young — 0.6 mi