STUDYING. PEARLAND. OVER. TIME.
On The SPOT
Storm of 1900
This section will focus on the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 and how it affected Pearland.
Factors Beforehand
Galveston could have minimized the damage incurred from a direct hit, but that would require acknowledging the danger of the storms that everyone denied.​ They continued to not make hurricane readiness measures even after the hurricanes of 1875 and 1886 that leveled Indianola (an extinct port city in Matagorda Bay), the second largest port in Texas behind Galveston. City fathers believed so strongly that the island couldn't be hit by hurricanes that they rejected a suggested seawall as a frivolous waste of taxpayer money.
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The storm swamped the spotters for the U.S. Weather Bureau. On the morning of the 7th there was an advisory for the storm, but the vast majority of the 37,000 residents chose to ride out the storm rather than evacuate.
Image Credit - National Hurricane Center & NASA
Map plotting the storm's track and intensity
Devastation
By noon the day after the advisory, rising salt water eliminated the option to evacuate. The hurricane struck Galveston at an astounding 75 miles per hour. By four PM, the official gauge blew away after recording sustained winds of 84 miles per hour. By nine PM, Galveston was under 12 feet of water and was still enduring winds estimated at 110 miles per hour.
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The 1900 hurricane was the deadliest natural disaster in U.S history according to Britannica. Galveston Island alone is estimated to have 8,000 casualties, which is a low estimate because of how many bodies were never recovered. 4,000 to 6,000 more died on the mainland, bringing the total to 12,000 casualties.
Image Credit - Galveston Historical Society
The 1900 Storm
Effect on Pearland
Miraculously, Pearland did not lose a single life according to the Pearland Historical Society. But the catastrophe destroyed most of the town and the citizen's possessions. Few man-made structures escaped serious damage, and most were totally destroyed. The hurricane tossed railcars on its side, leaving only the wheels on the tracks. The Methodist Church was reduced to rubble and the school was left unusable.
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The Santa Fe Railroad offered free transportation to any hurricane victim. This resulted in 60 to 70 families leaving. The 1900 census later that fall fixed the population at 136, but that number decreased as more families accepted the offer to leave. When class resumed, the pre-storm enrollment of 100 students dropped to 30. The effects were compounded when the Southern Homestead Company left.
