Great Galveston hurricane busiest ports in the nation. With this prosperity came a sense of complacency. A quarter of a century earlier, the nearby town of Indianola on Matagorda Bay was undergoing its own boom and was second to Galveston among Texas port cities. Then in 1875, a powerful hurricane blew through, nearly destroying the town. Indianola was rebuilt, though a second hurricane in 1886 caused residents to simply give up and move elsewhere. Many Galveston residents took the destruction of Indianola as an object lesson on the threat posed by hurricanes. Galveston is built on a low, flat island, little more than
Port of Galveston the Board of Trustees of the Galveston Wharves, as designated by the City Charter. The port is self-sustaining, and does not receive any taxpayer funding. The Port of Galveston consists of the Galveston Ship Channel, the south side of Pelican Island, the north side of Galveston Island and the entrance to Galveston Bay. The Galveston Channel has an authorized minimum depth of and is wide at its narrowest point. The port has 15-20 lines of business. In 2015, the eastern section of the port, ending at Pier 38, was dredged to a depth of . Siltation occurred at a faster