Ken Bridges/Contributing writer
Galveston, once the most important port city in Texas, suffered a crushing blow with the hurricane of 1900. Once the waters receded and the extent of the damage became clear, the city faced the overwhelming task of rebuilding. One of the most important tasks, surviving residents decided, was to ensure that such a disaster never repeated itself. This meant the construction of a seawall along the coast to shield the city from the full fury of future storms. To design the wall and oversee its construction, Galveston recruited a team of the best engineers they could find, led by one of the most respected names in engineering at the time, Gen. Henry Martyn Robert.
How many people died in the 1900 hurricane was never fully established. Some fled the devastation in the days afterward, and many others were washed out to sea, their fates never to be known. As many as 8,000 people were dead, and just as many were left homeless. The entire city was in ruins. The city was unable to function, and the government effectively collapsed. Once order was restored under a new commission form of government, the first in the nation, the city began the work of constructing the seawall, which would require tremendous effort and imagination. The city turned to Gen. Henry M. Robert, who readily accepted the task.
Robert was born on the Atlantic coast on the southern tip of South Carolina in 1837. His father, a preacher, educator, alter president of Morehouse College, was an outspoken abolitionist and left South Carolina because of his stands. The younger Robert grew up in Ohio and was nominated to the U. S. Military Academy at West Point in 1853. His grades at West Point were excellent as he studied engineering. He graduated in 1857 with a commission as a lieutenant.
The Army Corps of Engineers was responsible for not only building military fortifications but also river and port improvements, bridge construction, and even military railroad construction. His position had him traveling often. Among his first assignments was building fortifications near Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1859 as a border dispute between Great Britain and the U. S. threatened to escalate. This incident was known as the “Pig War” as a war nearly started over an argument between an American and Irish farmer over a pig in a garden.
Matters much more serious would dominate the next stage in his career. During the Civil War, he helped design, build, and maintain defensive fortifications for Washington, DC, and Philadelphia. He also helped improve defenses for New England ports against any possible surprise Confederate attack.
After the war, he worked on river improvements in Washington and Oregon as Engineer for the Division of the Pacific. He would spend six years afterward working on improving harbors for Wisconsin and Michigan along the Great Lakes. Later, he would help build a series of locks and dams on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers to help barge traffic and help control flooding.
Robert was used to the order of military briefings and the chain of command, but he was inexperienced with civilian crowds. Presiding over a meeting over harbor improvements for the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, at First Baptist Church in 1876, the meeting disintegrated into a screaming match. He immediately researched parliamentary procedures to make sure future meetings would run more smoothly. After researching protocols in Congress and the state legislatures, he wrote a book that eventually became known around the world as Robert’s Rules of Order.
In 1895, Robert became part of the Board of Engineers, a group of officers who oversaw the Corps of Engineers, leading the board until 1901. It was here that he studied ways to possibly deepen the southern end of the Mississippi River to improve traffic. In his final act in his long army career, he was promoted to Chief of Engineers in April 1901. He would serve for three days before retiring after 48 years in the army.
Galveston invited him in 1901 to head a board of engineers to design and build the new seawall that included Alfred Noble and H. C. Ripley. The city, county, and state would all pitch in on financing. The wall would be built on wood pilings and concrete, designs Robert carefully examined. But the seawall was not enough, Robert and the other engineers realized. The city itself needed to be raised. Every building in the city was raised eight feet, building by building and block by block with whatever dirt, sand, and debris was available. All of this was done by hand. In October 1902, construction on the first mile of the seawall began. By July 1904, the seawall ran for 3.3 miles along the Gulf Coast at a height of 17 feet.
The city’s first major test was the 1915 hurricane. A storm at least as powerful as the disastrous 1900 storm scored a direct hit, but the areas behind the seawall faced little damage. The seawall worked, and Galveston became a major tourist destination again by the 1920s.
Robert died at his home in western New York in May 1923 at age 86. In the meantime, Robert’s Rules of Order have become the standard rules for holding meetings across the United States and many nations around the world for civic clubs, schools, and even government meetings.
Between 1904 and 1963, the seawall was extended even further, ultimately running ten miles. Discussions on improving the sea wall have circulated in the community for several years. The beach has faced problems from erosion and increasingly powerful hurricanes. In spite of a century of hurricanes, the wall has continued to keep the city safe from the deadliest storms from the sea.
Dr. Ken Bridges, a Grand Prairie native, earned his bachelors degree from the University of Texas at Austin and his masters degree and doctorate at the University of North Texas.
He is a professor of history and geography At UT Permian Basin— in addition to writing. He and his wife, Lynn, have six children. His columns appear in multiple newspapers.