Before Katrina and Andrew, there was the Hurricane of 1900 that completely sacked Galveston. This event was to the Gulf Coast what the Great Earthquake of 1906 was to the West Coast, both in context and level of disaster.
The images I chose were bird's eye views of Galveston County, one from 1892 and the other from 1902, among which are two glaring differences: first, that the later map appears more organized/populated and second, the older map does not have a wall on the eastern edge of the island. In observing, I have to wonder if all of the space covered in the 1902 edition reflects the city at the time, or reflects the wishful thinking on the part of architects and rebuilders.
I was actually more interested in these maps based on the fact that the wall is in the process of eroding, as the island tends to catch a lot of the brunt of hurricane season. In the event that another devastating hurricane were to blow through, I'd like to know what measures the city would take as a means of preservation.
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