History of Galveston, Texas Harbor and headed for Havana, becoming the final Confederate ship to slip through the blockade from any Southern port. In the late 1890s, the Fort Crockett defenses and coastal artillery batteries were constructed in Galveston and along the Bolivar Roads. Juneteenth, which is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States, owes its origins to the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation upon the return of Union forces to Galveston in 1865. Galveston was the first city in Texas to provide a secondary school and public library for African Americans. At the end of the
Texas State Highway 124 the current SH 87 to High Island, and then over the current SH 124 to Stowell, replacing a split of SH 125 that was designated on December 16, 1929. The route terminated in Stowell at SH 125 which then was made up of the present SH 65 between Stowell and Anahuac and the current SH 124 to Beaumont. The state highway department assumed control of the ferry service between Port Bolivar and Galveston in 1930 and resumed operations in 1934 after making extensive renovations extending SH 124 to US 75 and SH 6 in Galveston. On March 17, 1936, the