The Strand

Galveston is full of beautiful old architecture with a history. It isn't hard to picture this town as it was in it's earliest days.

 Built in 1895 as two individual but connected structures, these buildings complemented Galveston’s Strand Avenue, known at the time as the “Wall Street of the Southwest.”

“Ball, Hutchings & Co. was established in 1854 with George Ball, John H. Hutchings, and John Sealy as partners. As bankers and dealers in wholesale dry goods, the firm was the first of its kind in Texas and its influence was felt throughout the state. In 1858, the assets and liabilities of the Samuel May Williams’ Commercial and Agricultural Bank, the only chartered bank in Texas prior to the Civil War, were taken over by Ball, Hutchings & Co.”

“When the Federal blockade closed the port of Galveston during the Civil War, the firm moved to Houston for the duration of the war and from there carried on trade in cotton as a means to help the Confederacy. 

                         Yesterday we shopped on Strand Avenue which is full of unique shops.

I always like to pick up something from our trips for the granddaughters. It may be an excuse to shop? 

~b