County museum opens transportation
exhibit
From staff reports
The Daily News
Published May 13,
2004
From the horse and
buggy to the cruise ship, the means of transport that have filled Galveston’s
ports, skies, roads and rail lines through the centuries have been many and
v
aried. To celebrate transportation systems that have tenaciously survived
natural and manmade disasters, changing technology, and shifting trends in
industry, the Galveston County Historical Museum has mounted a new exhibition,
“Moving Right Along: Transportation in Galveston County.”
The exhibit
will run through July 11.
A grand opening celebration is scheduled to
coincide with the next Galveston ArtWalk, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. May
29.
The exhibit will display nearly 100 artifacts from Galveston County’s
transportation history, including a 1788 Spanish coin (a doubloon), a
Special-Agent Colt .38-caliber pistol that represents the type that was carried
by Wells Fargo couriers by rail, a set of 19thcentury dishes from the Santa Fe
Railroad, and a coal bucket from the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
Railroad.
“Many of these artifacts turned up unexpectedly,” said Sue
Canup, assistant director of the Galveston County Historical Museum and curator
of this exhibit. “Last Christmas, a merchant marine who lives in New Jersey just
happened to stop in at the museum, and we struck up a conversation. He ended up
loaning photographs and other interesting historical items to the
exhibit.”
Another donor, a man from Webster, contacted the museum last
fall, with a few railroad artifacts he wanted to donate to the museum. When
contacted this spring he offered to loan a number of other railroad items from
his collection. Besides the bucket of coal, this donor also loaned the museum a
fancy brass padlock for switching boxes from the Southern Pacific Railroad
Company and a Southern Pacific iron-and-porcelain spittoon.
Also included
in the exhibit from the museum’s collection are a set of cotton receipts from
the Gulf and Santa Fe Railroad Company.
In addition to railroads, the
exhibit explores harbor transport, technologies for crossing the bay, aviation,
public transportation, including the streetcar and personal transportation,
ranging from the horse and buggy to the automobile.
“My personal favorite
is our section on road building,” Canup said. “Roads in Galveston used to be
made of mudshell that was dredged from the Galveston Bay and spread on the
roads. The constant pressure of traffic over them pressed them into a form of
cement.”
On display is a photo of one of the engineering field books that
shows how many wagonloads of shell it takes to cover a road from Friendswood to
League City.
Other artifacts representing Galveston’s sea, air and harbor
transportation history include a polished-wood deed box owned by Michel Menard,
one of the founders of Galveston and the head of the Galveston Wharf Company.
There is also a three-foot-long souvenir felt banner announcing the 1912 opening
of the Causeway.
+++
What: Galveston Country Historical
Museum.
When: Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and
noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Where: 2219 Market St.
Admission: Free;
donations are appreciated.
Information: (409) 766-2340.
