Whizzing down Interstate 45 to Galveston, modern travelers likely assume they’re off to the Houston suburbs – beach edition. But in the nineteenth century, Galveston competed with Houston as a seaport and transshipment point to and from central Texas. Colonel William Lewis Moody was a wealthy cotton merchant who helped finance the railroad Galveston needed to help central Texas farmers bypass Houston to get their cotton to markets around the world. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway, established in Galveston in 1873, is one of 390 different rail lines that presently make up the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.
LEFT The Great Texas Midland Route map of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad. RIGHT Col. William Lewis Moody helped finance the railroad that Galveston needed to transport its cotton to world markets.
To celebrate the heritage of the time when the railroad was king, the folks in Galveston have put together a tour package featuring three of the city’s finest museums: the Galveston Railroad Museum, the Bryan Museum and the Moody Mansion. The goal is to encourage the development of heritage tourism partnerships with the very communities the Galveston-based railway bolstered, including Alvin, Rosenberg, Brenham, Somerville, Navasota, Temple, Lampasas, McGregor, Morgan, Fort Worth, Dallas and Greenville.
Moody Mansion features memorabilia and collections of historical artifacts.
At the Galveston Railroad Museum, visitors can experience the magic of train travel up close by boarding their “rolling stock” of trains and rail cars, and via historical relics and memorabilia from the largest and finest collection in the Southwest. Also not to be missed is the sumptuous Moody Mansion, where guests may explore Moody’s legacy through family stories and self-guided audio tours of the house and grounds. Meanwhile, the Bryan Museum features the world’s largest collection of historical artifacts, documents and artwork related to the Southwestern United States.
The Bryan Museum features memorabilia and collections of historical artifacts.
