With the city all but destroyed, the people of Galveston quickly rebuilt, adding a seawall and raising the level of the entire city by three feet.
Fifteen years later, the city was struck by another hurricane. Since there were still many people who were uneasy about staying in the city with a hurricane coming in, a number of women and children were evacuated to the mainland via the Galveston-Houston Electric (the fastest railroad of its time).
Several car loads were evacuated to Texas City, League City, and Houston, but then that afternoon, when the storm actually hit, the last trainload was caught on the bridge/causeway by the storm surge. Knocked off the tracks, the train was still held on the bridge by the side walls. Most of the men on the train took off running, but the train's conductor, James Treadwell who was nicknamed Tall Jim due to the fact that he was almost 6' 10", stayed behind to try and save the women and children. Gathering up all of the rope and electrical wiring on the train, he tied all of the women and children to each other and then tied the rope around his chest before setting out for shore.
Rescue crews on shore watched in awe as Jim slowly made his way through the storm toward them, the water up to his chin and the women and children "strung out behind him like ducklings". Then, barely twenty feet from shore, a powerful wave struck Jim, knocked him off his feet, and dragged him and the women and children he'd been trying to rescue out to sea. Their bodies were found three days later.
James Treadwell left behind a wife and nine-month-old son. His son would later grow up to become an Eagle Scout, an Army lieutenant colonel, a college professor, and my grandfather.
The 1900 Galveston storm is still the deadliest US hurricane on record, while the 1915 Galveston storm is tied for eleventh place (275 deaths) with a storm that hit New Orleans barely a month later.
A lot of familiar names in this article...