To Galveston, or Bust!

Galveston's Gilded Age and the Hurricane that destroyed it - Does anyone remember Hurricane Ike? last year about this time, I was to embark on a historical expedition to the island city of Galveston. It was for another class with Professor Littlejohn, HIS 378. The day we were supposed to go on this wonderful journey, Hurricane Ike hit Galveston (the very same day, no joke). So my Galveston trip hopes were destroyed, and unfortunately, so was much of Galveston. But just as Galveston did, plans for the trip re-emerged. And we came with a vengeance! Last Thursday, we showed up with 2 van-fulls of eager history students, and then some.

This year's Galveston trip was not without its share of heavy rain, but it wasn't enough to stop us. I woke up bright & early that morning to carpool with my classmate Amanda. She furiously weathered the elements (& Houston traffic) in her little white Celica to rendezvous with the rest of the class at the Bishop's Palace, arguably Galveston's most important historical site.

This place is NICE! Other than the fact that I would like to own it, the Bishop's Palace holds significant importance in Texas history. Over a century ago, the deadliest natural disaster to ever occur in the United States struck Galveston Bay. The deadly hurricane made landfall on Sept. 8, 1900, killing over 6,000 Galvestonians and leaving an estimated $100 billion dollars worth of damage (in today's dollars) in its wake. The Bishop's Palace (pictured above) was one of the few buildings that survived the storm. Back then it was owned by Col. Walter Gresham and cost over $5 million to build in today's estimates. After the hurricane, its value had become almost worthless, and it was purchased for a meager $40,000 in 1923 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galveston, hence the name Bishop's Palace.

The first stop of our trip was to take a tour of the Palace itself. We started at the basement of the Palace & then made our way to the 1st floor. The cheerful tour guide explained to us the every-day lives of the Greshams while she herded our large group from room to room. Now when i said this place was nice, i meant really nice! its hard to describe in words or even pics. You would have to witness it for yourself. Then we went up the extravagant staircase to the 2nd floor, where we got to see the elegant bedrooms of many of the Greshams. (Why were the bed's so small back then?) The guide wouldn't let us up the 3rd floor for "fire safety reasons." Whatever.

After the Palace tour, we went to eat at a local Mexican restaurant. Along our 4-block trek, my ever- observant classmate pointed out some still-unrepaired buildings damaged by Hurricane Ike over a year ago. (My apologies. In my hungry state-of-being, i forgot to snap some quick photos.) From there we went to see a 30-minute film of the 1900 Hurricane. The film explained the tragedy through the eyes of survivors of the deadly storm. The most stunning fact, aside from the death toll, is that during Galveston's reconstruction, engineers physically raised the entire island, as much as 17 feet higher in the areas facing the gulf. After the film, we had some free time to explore the Strand, Galveston's historical district. SJP

CONTROVERSY!!! ...over the Enola Gay?

"Enola Gay Controversy" - Some people may wonder why the famous B-29 bomber would be caught up in a big controversy, but the Enola Gay does lie at the center of a very sensitive topic. Way back in the '80s, the Smithsonian Institution got into some hot mud over displaying the plane as an exhibit. The debate was over the question if the atomic bombs used in WWII saved the lives of countless American soldiers or if the bombs were even necessary at all, and what "mood" the exhibit should display. The big question was whether to mark the last act of the exhibit as "The Crossroads," symbolizing the transition into a new (atomic/Cold War) era in American History, or label this act as simply "The Last Act," representing the final actions that ended WWII. The arguing went on for years, & the exhibit went from one revision to another. Years later, in 1995, the exhibit was finally allowed to open, but only going through hearings in the Senate (yes, the U.S. Senate).

Government-run museums like the Smithsonian should simply present the facts as they are. Why should they attempt to display a biased point-of-view? Just give us the facts, & let us decide on the controversy. & keep my tax-dollars out of it! SJP

The "Real" Alamo

Alamo Exibit - Last Thursday Professor Littlejohn's HIS388 class met up at the local Huntsville museum (the one next to the lake/pond). The reason: to experience "public history". The topic: the Alamo. The exhibit itself was quite small, taking up only a few square yards of room space. But it did display a lot of info about the topic at hand. About half of it was tied to popular culture views of the Alamo (Hollywood, etc). Suprisingly, the exhibit showed very little about the Battle of the Alamo, but instead went into what happened to Alamo after the famous battle.

Did you know that the Alamo chapel was used as a store? Yea, me neither (check the source to the right, it came straight from the exhibit.) I never knew that a historical site so highly revered as the great Alamo was once a simple warehouse. I'm glad that someone took the time to preserve & restore the Old Alamo to what it is today. If not, then maybe all we'd have in San Antonio is the River Walk & Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Seriously though, i gotta give credit to exhibits like the one we visited last week and its contribution to public history, or some people, like myself, may never have known a lot of things that actually happened at the Alamo. SJP