Connie Bares

 “Ellis Island of Texas”

            I have always been interested in the local history and finding the treasures hidden within our own community.  As I researched for this assignment, I found an article referring to Galveston Island as the “Ellis Island of Texas.”  This intrigued me because I knew Galveston was a seaport and used for the exportation of cotton; but I never thought about Galveston as a port for immigrants.  So, who were the immigrants who passed through the “Ellis Island of Texas” in search of their American Dream?

Between the years 1831 and 1836 the population of Texas grew from about seven thousand to nearly fifty thousand with many of the new immigrants coming through the port of Galveston.  One story I discovered told of a family who traveled with a group of Prussian aristocrats from Westphalia. Their vessel sank in the shallow waters near Galveston’s East Beach.  As the ship sank, Robert Kleberg and others threw their belongings overboard, including a piano which was the first to be brought to Texas.  The passengers, with most of their belongings as well as the piano, made it to shore.  The Germans used parts of the ship creating tents with separate apartments for the women and children.  Kleberg wrote “We were enthusiastic lovers of Republican institutions.  Full of romantic notions and ideas, believing to find in Texas, in preference to all other countries, the blessed land of our sanguine hopes.” (Cartwright 64)  Kleberg, like most immigrants, came to America with optimistic hopes of finding the American Dream.  What Kleberg found was a country in turmoil with Mexico.           

So what attracted more immigrants to the “Ellis Island of Texas” over the years?  In the late 1830s, Galveston was nothing more than a low, flat, desolate stretch of sand that would flood with every violent storm and was virtually useless for agriculture.(Hardwick 50)  However, after the Civil War, Galveston recovered faster than any other city in the country.  The developers of Galveston believed Galveston’s location as the best natural harbor on the Texas coast would outweighed the lack of natural resources needed to support a dense population. (Hardwick 4)  The Civil War had delayed the building of the railroad, so Galveston became the most prosperous seaport in America.  In the late 1870s, the port of Galveston ranked third in the world of cotton exports and continued to rank in the top five until well after the turn of the century. (Cartwright 117)  Poles, Czechs, Scots, Russian, French and Germans disembarked at Galveston’s docks searching for a new life. Immigrants flooded Galveston at a rate of 4,000 a year.  By 1880 Galveston’s population tripled from what it was before the war.  Galveston’s population now consisted of one-fourth English, one-fourth German, one-sixth French, one-sixth Spanish and the remainder was a mixture of other nations. (Cartwright 119)  The immigrants who traveled to Galveston Island with money enjoyed the many luxuries the Island living offered. 

But not all immigrants found the American Dream to be as easy to obtain as those with money.  Louisa Rollfing immigrated from Fuhr Island, one of the North See islands off the coast of Germany, with the help of her father.  Her father discovered the Hunengrabers, ancient graves of a tribe of giant warriors, while digging for potatoes.  He used the proceeds from ticket sales of the ancient graves to help Louisa pay her way to Galveston.  Once in Galveston however, the only housing she found was a cramped apartment above a saloon.  She lived here with her husband, her three children, her saloonkeeper brother, and her brother’s bartender.  As well as being a seamstress, she also cooked and cleaned up after her family as well as the customers of the downstairs saloon.  Louisa worked hard to obtain a new life for her family in the “New World.” She often wandered what her life would have been like had she stayed home.   (Cartwright 148-149)  Like many immigrants, Louisa found the “New World” harsh and callous.

As immigrants left their “Old World” to discover a new life in the “New World” Galveston became the doorway of Texas for a diverse population.  The immigrants were attracted by the promise of future prosperity in the West and South.  Galveston attracted people like Nicholas Clayton, an Irishmen who contributed to the architecture of Galveston with his design of the Bishop’s Palace as well as many other buildings.  Other immigrants, such as German immigrants, were attracted to Galveston because they came to America looking for the promise of land and economic opportunities inland.  In order to raise money to pay for their travels inland, they used their skills in construction, iron work, masonry, and other mechanics to  help build the new city contributing to the overall character of Galveston.  (Hardwick 37) 

Because of the many different cultures found in Galveston, I believe the various immigrants who walked across the docks of Galveston, contributed their own uniqueness to the development of Galveston Island.  Thousand of immigrants sailed to “Ellis Island of Texas” searching for the American Dream in the New World.  Many immigrants found a new life in Galveston while others used the port of Galveston as a stepping stone toward the opportunities found inland.

Cartwright, Gary. Galveston: A History of the Island. New York: Atheneum, 1991.

Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. “Galveston Movement” http://www.tshaonline.org/hadbook/online/articles/GG/umg1.html (assessed June 20, 2008)

Hardwick, Susan W. "Galveston: Ellis Island of Texas." Journal of Cultrual Geography Vol. 20, Issue 2(2003): 69-85.

 Hardwick, Susan Wiley. Mythic Galveston Reinventing America's Third Coast. Baltimore : The John Hopkins University Press, 2002.