On September 8, 1900, a devastating hurricane destroyed most of the island city of Galveston, along with the lives of more than 6,000 men, women, and children. Today that hurricane remains the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Despite this tragedy, many Galvestonians were determined to rebuild their city. An ambitious plan was developed to construct a wall against the sea, link the island to the mainland with a reliable concrete bridge, and raise the level of the city. While the grade was raised beneath them, houses were perched on stilts and residents made their way through town on elevated boardwalks. Galveston became a city on stilts. While Galvestonians worked to rebuild the infrastructure of their city, they also continued conducting business and participating in recreational activities. Zeva B. Edworthy's photographs document the rebuilding of the port city and life around Galveston in the early 1900s.
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Publication: The Daily News
Article Title: Photos chronicle isleÂ’s recovery after 1900 Storm
Author: Bronwyn Turner
Date: 11/2/2008
GALVESTON — A collection of photographs with detailed captions was published nationwide Monday — amazingly sharp images of the engineering feats and innovation involved in Galveston’s recovery after a hurricane.
The faces and images cast an eerie message of hope, traveling forward in time, from 1900 to 2008.
“I hope that readers, especially now after Ike, take away inspiration to rebuild,” said Jodi Wright-Gidley, director of the Galveston County Historical Museum. Wright-Gidley co-authored the book, “Galveston: A City on Stilts,” with Jennifer Marines, assistant director and curator.
“They can say, ‘Wow, if those people in 1900 could come through that devastation, we can too,’” Wright-Gidley added. “It’s amazing what they accomplished with their technology in 1900.”
Marines agreed.
“I just hope people learn about a period in Galveston history we often forget about,” she said. “People remember the storm, but they don’t realize how much work it was to put the island back together.”
Many of the photographs reveal rare scenes of the reconstruction of Galveston. They were taken by Zeva B. Edworthy, a commercial photographer who worked in Galveston from 1904-1910.
Edworthy wanted to document the rebuilding of Galveston, the construction of its gigantic seawall, and the process of raising the level of 500 city blocks, when houses were perched on stilts. He took hundreds of pictures, carefully placing them in an album.
Then Edworthy moved on to other work, eventually settling in West Virginia as a director of religious education. The photographs from Galveston were locked away in a closet for years, and then passed along to EdworthyÂ’s daughter, Judith, who set them aside.
“Then, in 2005, I opened the album again, and my husband and I spent hours studying the fascinating pictures,” Judith Edworthy Wray wrote in the book’s preface. The family realized the value of such a collection, and donated the 340 pictures to the Galveston County Historical Museum.
“Thus, my father’s photographs, depicting rare scenes of Galveston’s resurrection after the 1900 disaster, finally have returned,” Wray wrote.
Museum staff selected 75 photographs, enlarged them and put together an exhibit in 2006 called “A City on Stilts: Galveston, 1902-1912.” The exhibit was the most popular ever at the museum.
“Everyone kept saying this would make a great book,” Wright-Gidley said. Then Arcadia Publishing, which specializes in regional history books, contacted the museum, asking for suggestions for a book topic. The book project began.
Wright-Gidley and Marines culled the 340 photographs down to 200, eliminating duplicates of scenes. They then set to work researching the stories behind each picture.
“I had a lot of fun driving around town, looking for the location of a picture,” Marines said. “We would try to figure out what was going on in a picture.”
The women researched the machinery in the photographs, the people, the amusement park structures and other buildings. They used Internet archives of The Daily News, Rosenberg Library archives and museum archives.
“We wanted to say more than the picture,” Wright-Gidley said. “We wanted to tell a story through the picture.”
The women became history detectives as they researched captions, often surprised by what research revealed.
“I was really impressed by seeing how fast Galveston recovered from the 1900 Storm,” Wright-Gidley said. “I did research --The Daily News
Article Title: Photos chronicle isleÂ’s recovery after 1900 Storm
Author: Bronwyn Turner
Date: 11/2/2008
GALVESTON — A collection of photographs with detailed captions was published nationwide Monday — amazingly sharp images of the engineering feats and innovation involved in Galveston’s recovery after a hurricane.
The faces and images cast an eerie message of hope, traveling forward in time, from 1900 to 2008.
“I hope that readers, especially now after Ike, take away inspiration to rebuild,” said Jodi Wright-Gidley, director of the Galveston County Historical Museum. Wright-Gidley co-authored the book, “Galveston: A City on Stilts,” with Jennifer Marines, assistant director and curator.
“They can say, ‘Wow, if those people in 1900 could come through that devastation, we can too,’” Wright-Gidley added. “It’s amazing what they accomplished with their technology in 1900.”
Marines agreed.
“I just hope people learn about a period in Galveston history we often forget about,” she said. “People remember the storm, but they don’t realize how much work it was to put the island back together.”
Many of the photographs reveal rare scenes of the reconstruction of Galveston. They were taken by Zeva B. Edworthy, a commercial photographer who worked in Galveston from 1904-1910.
Edworthy wanted to document the rebuilding of Galveston, the construction of its gigantic seawall, and the process of raising the level of 500 city blocks, when houses were perched on stilts. He took hundreds of pictures, carefully placing them in an album.
Then Edworthy moved on to other work, eventually settling in West Virginia as a director of religious education. The photographs from Galveston were locked away in a closet for years, and then passed along to EdworthyÂ’s daughter, Judith, who set them aside.
“Then, in 2005, I opened the album again, and my husband and I spent hours studying the fascinating pictures,” Judith Edworthy Wray wrote in the book’s preface. The family realized the value of such a collection, and donated the 340 pictures to the Galveston County Historical Museum.
“Thus, my father’s photographs, depicting rare scenes of Galveston’s resurrection after the 1900 disaster, finally have returned,” Wray wrote.
Museum staff selected 75 photographs, enlarged them and put together an exhibit in 2006 called “A City on Stilts: Galveston, 1902-1912.” The exhibit was the most popular ever at the museum.
“Everyone kept saying this would make a great book,” Wright-Gidley said. Then Arcadia Publishing, which specializes in regional history books, contacted the museum, asking for suggestions for a book topic. The book project began.
Wright-Gidley and Marines culled the 340 photographs down to 200, eliminating duplicates of scenes. They then set to work researching the stories behind each picture.
“I had a lot of fun driving around town, looking for the location of a picture,” Marines said. “We would try to figure out what was going on in a picture.”
The women researched the machinery in the photographs, the people, the amusement park structures and other buildings. They used Internet archives of The Daily News, Rosenberg Library archives and museum archives.
“We wanted to say more than the picture,” Wright-Gidley said. “We wanted to tell a story through the picture.”
The women became history detectives as they researched captions, often surprised by what research revealed.
“I was really impressed by seeing how fast Galveston recovered from the 1900 Storm,” Wright-Gidley said. “I did research --The Daily News
About the Author
The authors, director Jodi Wright-Gidley and curator Jennifer Marines of the Galveston County Historical Museum, selected images from the Edworthy Collection to illustrate this dynamic period in Galveston's history. The book also includes a preface by the photographer's daughter Judith Edworthy Wray and a conclusion with a modern perspective by hurricane specialist and historian Lew Fincher.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Galveston: A City on Stilts,
By
This review is from: Galveston: A City on Stilts (General History: Texas) (Paperback)
Coming out on the heels of hurricane "Ike" this outstanding pictorial history of the "1900 Storm" is both timely and inspiring. Timely because of the very recent storm experience [especially by those of us who live on the Gulf Coast] and inspiring because of the spirit of the people who rebuilt the island after that devastating storm. The authors have given us both poignant photos [found fairly recently by the granddaughter of the man who took them] and readable prose to pique our interest in reading more. It is a 'must read' for anyone interested in how this community not only survived after the "storm of the century," but thrived as well.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent and timely,
By
This review is from: Galveston: A City on Stilts (General History: Texas) (Paperback)
This book is about a group of pictures taken as Galveston undertook two difficult civil engineering projects, building the seawall and raising the grade of much of the city. The pictures would be very informative, but the authors have done an extraordinary job of researching what the pictures show and providing the supporting information in extended captions. A wonderful look at what life was like in Galveston at that point, and about how the projects were realized.Timely because the city is recovering from Hurricane Ike.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Book on the island,
This review is from: Galveston: A City on Stilts (General History: Texas) (Paperback)
This book was given to me as a present. Excellent book and photos from Edworthy.I could not put it down ... photos are museum worthy. A must read! Highly recommend.
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