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
Port of Galveston than expected pace, requiring more dredging in 2016. The western part of the port will be dredged from a dept of to , at a cost of $12-15 million. To accommodate cruise ships, the area where the ships turn around is routinely dredged every four years. During the late 19th century, the port was the busiest on the Gulf Coast and considered to be second busiest in the country, next to the port of New York City. In the 1850s, the port of Galveston exported approximately goods valued almost 20 times what was imported. The main export was cotton. The