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“ Galveston was first settled in 1837. It is handsomely laid out upon ground elevated from 6 to 10 feet above ordinary tide level, has wide and straight streets, and has several public squares, parks, and gardens. The streets running parallel to West Bay are known as avenues, and are designated by the letters of the alphabet, beginning at the bay, while those at right angles to the water are numbered. Special names are assigned to some of the streets. Avenue A, parallel and next to the wharf or channel front, is mostly occupied by wholesale houses. ”

“ Among the public buildings, other than churches, are a post-office, custom-house, United States court-house, a county court-house, a county and city prison, a city hall, an opera house, 7 public halls, 2 libraries, 2 theatres, 13 hotels of different grades, and 3 market houses. ”

“ There are published in the town a number of daily, triweekly, and weekly papers. Galveston is a bishop’s see of the Roman Catholic Church. The city is well connected by railroad with different parts of the State, and by regular steamship lines with Liverpool, New York, Havana, New Orleans, and the ports of Texas. The Galveston, Houston, and Henderson Railroad crosses West Bay on a wooden bridge 2 miles long, and by means of the Galveston Wharf Railroad delivers and receives freight at the several wharves of the city. ”

“ The Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fé Railroad, now building from Galveston to Belton, in Bell County, a distance of 220 miles, is finished (September 1879) as far as Richmond, a distance of 63 miles, and 57 miles more to Brenham will be finished by January 1, 1880. The entire road to Belton is to be completed by September 1881. This road crosses the Brazos River, below Richmond, on an iron bridge, and has a wooden bridge of its own across West Bay. There are no highway bridges connecting Galveston Island with the mainland. ”

“ A municipal census taken in 1876 made the population 35,000, which is believed to be too high. The past and estimated present population are given below:—
In the business of receiving and shipping cotton, the leading production of the Southern States, Galveston ranks third in importance among the ports of the United States, New Orleans and Savannah standing before it, and Charleston, Norfolk, and Mobile after it in the order named. ”