Galveston–Houston Electric Railway Galveston–Houston Electric Railway The Galveston–Houston Electric Railway was an interurban railway between Galveston and Houston, Texas from 1911 to 1936. The railway was recognized as the fastest interurban line in 1925 and 1926. The Interurban ran the 50 miles (80 km) from downtown Houston to downtown Galveston in as little as 75 minutes. The track roughly followed the current path of Interstate 45 (Gulf Freeway), and is now used as a utility right of way for high tension power lines. The Galveston Bay causeway was considered a great feat of engineering and cost about US$2 million (US$ in present-day terms)
Galveston Island would hold until nearly the end of the 19th century. Galveston for a time before the American Civil War was the largest cotton shipping port in the world and the second-largest port for immigration in the United States. In the mid-19th century, it was a major port of entry for the many Germans who entered the state. During the Civil War, the Union army seized control of the island from the South for a few months during early 1863. Confederate forces commanded by John B. Magruder expelled them from the island, and the Confederates controlled it for the remainder of