Plan of the City of Galveston Situated on the East End of Galveston Island Texas

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IdentifierMaps_254aDate1837DescriptionThis is the first printed plan of Galveston, predating John Groesbeck's survey and city plan by several months (see no. 259). The accompanying pamphlet was designed to vindicate Michael B. Menard's title to the island and to sell the stock of the fledgling Galveston City Company.

When the depression of 1837 occurred, the City Company abandoned original plans to sell all one thousand shares of stock by subscription. The directors decided instead to survey and plat the city, put the lots up for sale, and divide the stock among members of the company. (See Hayes, 1:256-60, for a full account of early title disputes and promotion schemes).

The map shows Galveston in a form quite similar to that actually carried out but differing in a number of important respects. It shows a more fully developed metropolis than do the later maps of Groesbeck and Sandusky (see no. 277), though the core of the city is essentially that adopted later. The Gulf shore is farther inland than on any other nineteenth-century map. This map is also unique in showing a grand oceanfront boulevard that corresponds to the modern Seawall Boulevard.

The cartographer divided the city north of Avenue L ("Menard Street") into regular blocks of twelve lots without alleys; and south of Avenue L into oversize outlots. No wharves appear on the map, and locations of public buildings, markets, squares, cemeteries, are quite different from those of any other printed map. Street names are also quite different, here bearing names rather than letters or numbers.

The compiler of the map and the author of the pamphlet are unknown. Either Menard or Levi Jones, City Company directors, probably designed the map. Hayes implies that Menard and his associates already had a well-formed concept of the plan they wanted for their new city when they hired Groesbeck to conduct the official survey. This anonymous printed plan is probably their original concept, which they later gave to Groesbeck to adapt to the actual townsite. It is unlikely, on the other hand, that Menard wrote the accompanying pamphlet. The text continually refers to him in the third person and misspells his name as "Maynard."

Both the pamphlet and the map are quite rare. Streeter (Bibliography, no. 1268) locates only two copies of the pamphlet, one defective. The original from which this photostat was taken has not been located. Language NoteEnglishSubjectGalveston (Tex)--MapsCopyright StatementNo Copyright – Non-Commercial Use OnlySize52x81 centimeters.CartographerUnknown

CollectionRosenberg Library map collectionOrganizationGalveston City Company

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Plan of the City of Galveston Situated on the East End of Galveston Island Texas

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Plan of the City of Galveston Situated on the East End of Galveston Island Texas