Galveston, TX: The 1900 Hurricane & the Present

The 1900 Storm is the worst natural disaster experienced in the United States to date. Before 1900, the highest point of elevation in Galveston, TX was not quite nine feet above sea level. It is estimated that winds from the 1900 hurricane reached more than 120 mph, with a storm surge of almost sixteen feet, reducing 3,600 structures to rubble. Although its death toll will never be known precisely, at least 6,000 people perished from a pre-storm population of 37,700 and several thousand more on the mainland.

Financial losses were estimated at a staggering $30,000,000. After burial at sea failed and bodies began returning to shore, citizens resorted to cremating bodies in pyres located throughout the city.

Having made a visit to Galveston yesterday, seeing what’s left of Rosewood Cemetery, first burial ground designated exclusively for African Americans, was devastating. The cemetery was established in 1911 by a group of African American citizens who organized themselves as the Rosewood Cemetery Association.

The first person buried was Robert Bailey on February 1, 1912, and the last burial was Frank Boyer on June 29, 1944. 411 graves are listed in records as being located at Rosewood. Today, markers exist for only around 20. The last known burial date is listed as 1944.