Galveston County, Texas facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Galveston County
U.S. county
Galveston County Courts Building
Seal
Location within the U.S. state of Texas
Texas's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Texas
Founded	1838
Named for	City of Galveston
Seat	Galveston
Largest city	League City
Area
• Total	874 sq mi (2,260 km2)
• Land	378 sq mi (980 km2)
• Water	495 sq mi (1,280 km2)  57%
Population  (2020)
• Total	350,682
• Estimate  (2021)	355,062
• Density	401.24/sq mi (154.92/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	14th

Galveston County (/ˈɡælvɪstən/ gal-VIS-tən) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas, located along the Gulf Coast adjacent to Galveston Bay. As of the 2020 census, its population was 350,682. The county was founded in 1838. The county seat is the City of Galveston, founded the following year, and located on Galveston Island. The most-populous municipality in the county is League City, a suburb of Houston at the northern end of the county, which surpassed Galveston in population during the early 2000s.

Galveston County is part of the nine-county Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land (Greater Houston) metropolitan statistical area.

History

One of the first major settlements in the area that is now Galveston County was the town of Campeche on Galveston Island, created by the pirate Jean Lafitte. Lafitte created a prosperous pirate kingdom around the Galveston Bay until the United States Navy ousted him from the area. The area came under Mexican rule where Galveston became a significant port through the Texas Revolution.

Galveston County was formally established under the Republic of Texas on May 15, 1838. The county was formed from territory taken from Harrisburg, Liberty, and Brazoria counties, with governmental organization taking place in 1839. The island and city of Galveston was by far the most important population center. The city of Galveston was the republic's largest city and its center of commerce and culture. Port Bolivar on the Bolivar Peninsula was a port of secondary importance. Other development in the area was initially mostly ranching interests and small farming communities. Texas soon joined the United States and Galveston's importance continued to grow as it came to dominate the worldwide cotton trade. As railroads between Galveston, Harrisburg, Houston and other towns were built during the 19th century, small communities grew up along the rail lines. Nevertheless, Galveston still dominated. At the end of the 19th century, a group of investors established Texas City directly across the West Bay from Galveston with the hope of making it a competing port city. The port began operations just before the start of the 20th century.

Map of Galveston County in 1879

The 1900 Galveston Hurricane devastated the county killing an estimated 6000 people on the island alone and numerous others in the rest of the county. The Port of Galveston was closed for some time as rebuilding occurred. The Port of Texas City, however, was able to re-open almost immediately allowing shipping through Galveston County to continue largely unimpeded and proving the merit of the new port city.

Investors had long worried that the Texas coast was a dangerous place to establish major commercial operations because of the threat of hurricanes, and the 1900 disaster seemed to prove that. Though Galveston rebuilt its port and other major operations quickly, major investment moved inland, largely to Houston. Soon Houston and Texas City had outpaced Galveston as major ports.

The oil boom in Texas began in 1901 and soon pipelines and refineries were built in Texas City. Industrial growth blossomed, especially during World War II. Galveston's manufacturing sector, however, was more stagnant during the 20th century.

Galveston, traditionally an attractive tourist destination even before the storm, transformed itself into a major, nationally known destination. The island's entertainment business spread throughout the county with major casino districts in Kemah and Dickinson enabled by a lax attitude among law enforcement in the county (Houstonians often humorously referred to the Galveston County line as the Maceo-Dickinson line). The county prospered as oil fueled Texas City's industrial growth and wealthy tourists flocked to Galveston and the other entertainment districts.

The gambling empire was destroyed in the 1950s as state law enforcement finally dismantled it. Galveston's economy crashed as did the economies of some other county municipalities that were dependent on tourism. Texas City's economy weathered the storm because of its strong industry.

The establishment on NASA's Johnson Space Center in 1963 soon created new growth opportunities for the county municipalities near Clear Lake and Harris County. The Clear Lake area communities in Harris and Galveston Counties soon became more tied toward each other while the island of Galveston languished for many years as businesses increasingly left for the mainland.

Tourism, of the more legitimate variety, has gradually redeveloped in the county, both on the island and on the mainland, and today has become a major industry in the county. Aerospace and related service industries continue to be important in the Clear Lake area of the county. Texas City has become an important petrochemical center.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 874 square miles (2,260 km²), of which 378 square miles (980 km²) is land and 495 square miles (1,280 km²) (57%) is water.

Galveston County is located on the plains of the Texas Gulf Coast in the southeastern part of the state. The county is bounded on the northeast by Galveston Bay and on the northwest by Clear Creek and Clear Lake. Much of the county covers Galveston Bay, and is bounded to the south by the Galveston Seawall and beaches on the Gulf of Mexico.

Adjacent counties

• Harris County (north)
• Chambers County (northeast)
• Brazoria County (west)

Communities

Galveston County has unincorporated areas in several areas. Most of them are on the Bolivar Peninsula. Others are outside of Hitchcock and Santa Fe along Texas State Highway 6, and the three communities in the "Bayshore" area: Bacliff, San Leon, and Bayview.

Cities

Villages

• Tiki Island

Census-designated places

• Bacliff
• Bolivar Peninsula
• San Leon

Unincorporated communities

Alta Loma, previously unincorporated, became a part of Santa Fe in 1978.

Demographics

Note: the U.S. Census Bureau treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.

According to the census of 2000, 250,158 people, 94,782 households, and 66,157 families resided in the county. The population density was 628 people per square mile (242 people/km²). The 111,733 housing units averaged 280 per square mile (110/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 72.69% White, 15.44% Black or African American, 0.47% Native American, 2.10% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 7.18% from other races, and 2.08% from two or more races. About 18% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. By the publication of the 2020 census, the population grew to 350,682, with a racial and ethnic makeup at 54.57% non-Hispanic white, 12.30% non-Hispanic Black or African American, 0.30% non-Hispanic Native American, 3.48% non-Hispanic Asian, 0.06% non-Hispanic Pacific Islander, 0.41% non-Hispanic some other race, 3.61% non-Hispanic multiracial, and 25.28% Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Of the 94,782 households at the 2000 census, 33.80% had children under 18 living with them, 52.40% were married couples living together, 13.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.20% were not families. Around 25.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.60, and the average family size was 3.12.

In the county, theage distribution was 26.7% under 18, 8.70% from 18 to 24, 30.2% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.1% who were 65 or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.90 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 93.10 males.

In 2000, the median income for a household in the county was $42,419, and for a family was $51,435. Males had a median income of $41,406 versus $28,703 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,568. About 10.10% of families and 13.20% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.60% of those under age 18 and 10.20% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Eight independent school districts (ISDs) serve Galveston County communities:

• Clear Creek ISD
• Dickinson ISD
• Friendswood ISD
• Galveston ISD
• High Island ISD
• Hitchcock ISD
• Santa Fe ISD
• Texas City ISD

A ninth school district, La Marque Independent School District, was subsumed into Texas City ISD in 2016 after the Texas Education Agency revoked its accreditation due to poor academic and financial performance.

Higher education

The city of Galveston is home to Texas A&M University at Galveston, an extension of the main A&M campus in College Station, and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

The Texas Legislature specified that the following community colleges also serve the area: College of the Mainland for Texas City (including former La Marque), Hitchcock, Santa Fe, Friendswood, and Dickinson school districts as well as the Galveston County portion of Clear Creek ISD (in other words, mainland Galveston County); and Galveston College for Galveston ISD and High Island ISD (the islands).

Public libraries

The Galveston County Library System operates libraries in most of the larger towns and cities. The Rosenberg Library in Galveston has the distinction of being the oldest public library in Texas, and serves as the headquarters for the Galveston County Library System. Its librarian also functions as the Galveston County librarian. Also, seven other libraries are in Galveston County, including the Genevieve Miller Library in Hitchcock, the La Marque Public Library, the Helen Hall Public Library in League City, the Moore Memorial Public Library in Texas City, the Dickinson Public Library, the Friendswood Public Library, and the Mae Bruce Library in Santa Fe.

Hospital services

Galveston County is served by a major medical complex in Galveston and a private for-profit hospital in Texas City.

The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston is a 1,200-bed, major medical complex of seven hospitals. The main general-care hospital is John Sealy Hospital, with other on-campus hospitals specializing in women, children, burn victims, geriatrics, and psychiatrics. Currently, UTMB is certified as a level I trauma center and serves as the lead trauma facility for the nine-county region in southeast Texas, including the Greater Houston area.

The Mainland Medical Center, a 233-bed, private, for-profit hospital, operates in Texas City.

Corrections

The Galveston County Jail is located at 5700 Avenue H in Galveston.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice and University of Texas Medical Branch manage health care facilities for prisoners in Galveston, Galveston County. The facilities include the co-gender Galveston Hospital for prisoners in Galveston and the Young Medical Facility Complex for females in Texas City. Hospital Galveston began contracting for medical treatment of prisoners in 1983. Young opened in 1996 as the Texas City Regional Medical Unit.

Transportation

Major highways

• Interstate 45
• State Highway 3
• State Highway 6
• State Highway 87
• State Highway 96

• State Highway 124
• State Highway 146
• State Highway 275

Airports

Scholes International Airport at Galveston

Scholes International Airport at Galveston (IATA: GLS, ICAO: KGLS), the county's sole publicly owned airport, is a two-runway airport located on Galveston Island in Galveston. The airport is primarily used for general aviation, offshore energy transportation, and some limited military operations.

Privately owned airports for private use include Creasy Airport and Kami-Kazi Airport, both inn unincorporated areas.

The closest airport with regularly scheduled commercial service is William P. Hobby Airport, located in Houston. The Houston Airport System stated that Galveston County is also within the primary service area of George Bush Intercontinental Airport, an international airport near Houston in Harris County.

Private heliports for private use include:

• University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston has two heliports: one for Ewing Hall and one for its emergency room.
• Republic Helicopters Heliport is in an unincorporated area, adjacent to Hitchcock.

Rail

All rail traffic is currently industry-related. Regularly scheduled passenger rail service in Galveston County ceased on April 11, 1967.

Mass transit

The City of Galveston is served by Island Transit, a public transportation agency.

Notable people

• John Baptista Ashe, former U.S. Representative for Tennessee
• Dez Bryant, American football wide receiver and return specialist for the Dallas Cowboys, was born in Galveston County.
• Red Bryant, American football defensive end for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League, was born in Galveston County.
• YBN Almighty Jay, rapper in the YBN collective, was born in Galveston County.
• Larry Taylor - Republican member of the Texas Senate from District 11 (2013–present) and Texas House of Representatives from District 24 (2003–2013)

See also

In Spanish: Condado de Galveston para niños