Unboxing History

Exploring Galveston’s Beach History

• Unboxing History | History Expert Jodi Wright-Gidley & Galveston Author Christine Hopkins • Season 1 • Episode 7

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In this episode of Unboxing History, Christine Hopkins and museum staffer Shelby Rodwell unbox a woman's bathing suit from 1890-1910 from the Galveston County Museum collection. This swimsuit is featured in a new exhibit at the Museum created by Rodwell. The podcast highlights beach-related artifacts in the exhibit and the history of segregated beaches in Galveston. Additionally, they talk about historic bathhouses, Electric Park, and beach events like the Bathing Girl Revue. The episode concludes with an invitation to visit the museum and explore its exhibits and resources. Unboxing History Podcast is presented by the Galveston County Museum. 

Theme Music: 🎼G COUNTY JAZZ, Shawn Schoellkopf ©️2024



Thank you for listening to Unboxing History, presented by the Galveston County Museum.
For more information, visit our website.

History of the Galveston County Museum
The Galveston County Museum was formed in 1976. It was located on Market Street for many years. After Hurricane Ike damaged the HVAC and electrical systems in 2008, the unharmed artifacts were moved. Now, the museum is located in the Galveston County courthouse building at 722 Moody/21st Street in Galveston.

​Galveston County Museum is a joint project of the Galveston County Commissioners Court and Galveston County History, Inc. The museum cares for a collection of 20,000 artifacts and archives. We also maintain the Historical Commission's library. If you are interested in research or donating an artifact related to Galveston County history, please call 409.766.2340.

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Episode 7

[00:00:00] 

Christine Hopkins: Welcome to Unboxing History. I'm Christine Hopkins, of Unboxing History, a podcast presented by the Galveston County Museum. And every month, we unbox an artifact that's included as part of the museum's collection. So, today, we have a special guest. This is Shelby Rodwell, and she is part of of the curation, the curating staff, here at the museum.

So Shelby, what is our artifact? 

Shelby Rodwell: Well, let's take a peek. Today I have a woman's bathing suit from the roughly 1890 to 1910. 

Christine Hopkins: Wow. 

Shelby Rodwell: Let's see here.

It is not like the bathing suits we wear today.

Christine Hopkins: Look at that. 

Wow. So let's describe it for people that are listening. 

Shelby Rodwell: Absolutely. So it is [00:01:00] actually kind of like a unitard jumper. It's very thick cloth. It has pants that would go down to roughly the wearer's knees and then a skirt that attaches at the waist here.

It buttons all the way up and would come up to roughly her neck and then the sleeves would come down to just about shoulder length a little bit past. So it's very, a very modest bathing suit to be sure. 

Christine Hopkins: Yes, so basically you're covered from neck to below the knee. 

Shelby Rodwell: Yes. 

Christine Hopkins: And what type of fabric is that, do you think?

Shelby Rodwell: So this, I would say probably thick cotton but a lot of times especially after the 1890s bathing suits started being made of wool. 

Christine Hopkins: Oh my gosh! 

Shelby Rodwell: Extra itchy. 

Christine Hopkins: Oh my gosh! Well so you have created a wonderful new exhibit here at the museum. And so tell us a little bit about that. I know how long did it take you to create the, to work on the exhibit and what are some of the things that you learned about it?

Shelby Rodwell: Yeah, absolutely. So it took, it took roughly three months. to put it all [00:02:00] together give or take a little bit. It's, it focuses on Galveston beaches and we have quite a few really interesting artifacts. You can come see this actual bathing suit in person. We also have a children's bathing suit that is made of wool.

We have tickets from Murdoch's bathhouse dating to roughly the early 1900s. And then a couple of other really interesting things like photographs and postcards. 

Christine Hopkins: Well, and I think that, you know, there's, there's so many, if you even go on eBay and look online, there's so many historic photos of people coming to the beaches and postcards of people coming to the beaches.

How long have people been coming to Galveston to enjoy our beaches? Yeah, 

Shelby Rodwell: Absolutely. So a very long time. There was a tourism renovation project that happened in the late 1800s and up until then. Swimming was something a pastime for people, but not as common.

So it was about the late 1800s when in early 1900s when cars started becoming available, that long distance [00:03:00] travel became more of a common thing that wasn't just available to, you know, higher class. And so I would say late 1800s, early 1900s is really when Galveston tourism took off. But people had been swimming in the Gulf even longer before that.

Christine Hopkins: Wow, it's pretty amazing. Well, and so you think about even before the 1900 storm, people were coming to Galveston to enjoy the beaches. And so tourism's been a big part of our history for a long, long time. Now at one point in my career, I worked at the Hotel Galvez. And people would come and basically stay for the summer to enjoy the beaches.

Now, which parts of the beaches were the most popular? 

Shelby Rodwell: Well, that is a really interesting question. So historically the idea is that 21st to 25th Street would have been the most popular part of the beach. but actually up until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Galveston's beaches were racially segregated.

So the most popular part of the beach [00:04:00] was designated solely for white visitors and beach goers. Now, 28th to 29th Street was segregated and designated for African American visitors and residents. That was a very, very popular beach as well. Outside of the West End, that was the only beach that legally during segregation African American beach goers could visit.

So within that pocket, a lot of very popular black owned businesses popped up. 

Christine Hopkins: That explains a lot. 

Shelby Rodwell: Yes. and it became a community. And it really became a very, very popular part of the beach. Unfortunately, some of that gets lost to history or ignored. So as the museum, we really want to highlight the fact that though it's seems as if 21st to 25th street was the busiest part.

It's really more like 29th to 24th 25th street. 

Christine Hopkins: So basically from 21st to 25th, that is where most visitors and residents would have gone, especially if they were, if they were white, if they were African American, they would have [00:05:00] gone to this. segregated beaches, which was 25th to 29th 

Shelby Rodwell: or 28th to 

Christine Hopkins: 28th to 29th, which again, that explains why some of the businesses were where they are at that time, you know, now people kind of come, they bring all their own gear, they bring their umbrellas and their chairs or they rent them.

But what was it like coming to the beach back in the days of Murdoch's and the bath houses. Explain that for people that aren't familiar with that. 

Shelby Rodwell: Yeah, absolutely. So the island had quite a few very successful bath houses and Murdoch's is, has been rebuilt, but it's still there today. It just serves a little bit different of a purpose.

So the bath houses were kind of a one stop shop for anybody. Bathing suits were because swimming was a kind of newer idea. Bathing suits weren't owned by everyone. And I mean, they were heavy and kind of hard to pack. So people would go to bath houses to rent used bathing suits, which sounds interesting. They also could be [00:06:00] an attraction within themselves.

They had restaurants and. Crystal Palace had a really popular saltwater indoor pool. Murdoch's had a photography studio. Not everybody had a camera available to them, so they would come in and get family photos at the beach. And then, yeah, they were very, very popular, and they kind of lined our beachfront.

Christine Hopkins: Well, and at one point, weren't there even the dressing rooms that would roll on the beach? 

Shelby Rodwell: Yes, they had small carts that were essentially the to-go version of a bathhouse that were on the beach on wheels. And people could go in and they could change into their suit. And as high tide would come in, somebody would come over and roll it back, and as tide went back out, they'd roll it closer.

Christine Hopkins: Oh, wow. Well, and do you think a lot of people knew how to swim? Because I've, I've seen a lot of photos. 

Where they're holding onto ropes. 

In the beach or at on the beach? 

Shelby Rodwell: Mm-Hmm. I think so. But. Again, since it was more it was just gaining the [00:07:00] popularity I think it was it's better safe than sorry since a lot of people didn't spend a whole bunch of time in the water aside from maybe, you know, residents that live down here.

Christine Hopkins: So there were a beach the, of course the beach was an attraction during one of our recent podcasts, we did an interview with Kimber Fountain and she talked about the Maceos and their influence in bringing in hiring a promoter to create the Pageant of Pulchtritude, and there were also car races and things like that.

What other events evolved around the beaches. 

Shelby Rodwell: Yeah, there was one event in the late 1800s, early 1900s, a splash day. There was what, what eventually became the that pageant was the Bathing Girl Revue or the Beach Revue which started in May of 1920. It quickly gained popularity and it included many festivities like parades, contests.

It was a whole weekend event that drew in tens of thousands of visitors. And then there were, there were other things as well. The Strand was [00:08:00] very important in commerce as was the wharf. So that already had people with Galveston in their mind. And then just the idea that a seawall protected the island kind of became its own attraction as well.

Christine Hopkins: Well, there's. pictures and they, I know that they have one on display at the Galvez, but the old roller, roller cars or roller carts where you kind of sat, roller chairs where you sat in this chair and they rolled you down the seawall and so you could enjoy the view. And you look at these old photos and people are dressed to the nines really to walk down this new creation of the seawall. So it, that is really something to learn and to see how Galveston has evolved, how even though here we are all these years later, the beach is still a major reason that people come to the island. 

Shelby Rodwell: Absolutely. And one really interesting thing as well, as you see some of the spirit of Galveston that we live with every day in these old photographs, There was electric park, for instance, that was around until 1916 [00:09:00] Galveston was the first place in Texas..

to have electricity. So they really marketed that and created Electric Park, which was one of the first amusement parks down here so that people could get dressed to the nines and then go on top of the Ferris Wheel and look all over the island just like we can today. 

Christine Hopkins: Well, and then we still have the Pleasure Pier, which was not the original Pleasure Pier.

Everyone should know that, but they, the Landry's Corporation and Tilman Fertitta brought back the Pleasure Pier. They have a history exhibit there about the history of the Pleasure Pier as well, but, it is interesting to see that. So what was, when you're doing this research, you said it took about three months to do all the research.

What was the thing that surprised you the most as part of this exhibit? 

Shelby Rodwell: Yeah I think it would be two fold. For me first is the idea of renting bathing suits. That really shocked me. Though I understand. Understand why they had to do it. I prefer to own my own . And then I think also just the existence of Electric Park.

It's, it's not something that you can very easily find information [00:10:00] on. 

Christine Hopkins: Mm-Hmm. , 

Shelby Rodwell: But we have such a incredible photograph collection here that I saw it in the background of something. It was like, wait a second. What is that? This says 1915. Why is that here? . 

Christine Hopkins: Well, and it only lasted a few years because there was a hurricane in 1915. 

Shelby Rodwell: Correct. I believe I, I could be wrong on the date, but I believe it was officially opened around 1910.

They started dismantling it for more work on the seawall around 1915 and then that hurricane hit and it kind of took it out. And then I believe there was one smaller hurricane in 1916 that kind of sealed its fate. 

Christine Hopkins: Since you've been doing so much research, what are some of the things that you found helpful that people may not be aware of that are, that is available here at the museum?

Shelby Rodwell: Yeah, we are an incredible resource. We have a fantastic research library that's available by appointment. You can just shoot us an email, give us a call. We have wonderful subject files that have, you know, decades of research that we have done and other researchers. We also have an amazing artifact collection [00:11:00] of over 20,000 artifacts that represent the history of this amazing island and the county.

And then the museum itself is a great resource. And even if you're not wanting to do intensive research, You can stop by or just give us a call or an email and we are happy to be a resource as well. We absolutely love spreading any information we have. 

Christine Hopkins: There are some very knowledgeable people that are part of the County Museum.

Let me, let me tell you. So what is your favorite exhibit here? 

Shelby Rodwell: Oh, that's tough. I had to really think about this. Because I get, I get asked that a lot. I would be biased if I said the beach exhibit. I would say probably the immigration exhibit. I think that really just highlights the, the rich history that has been brought into the island that has become part of this fantastic community.

We also maybe have a future exhibit that will be coming soon that may or may not end up being my favorite. You'll have to come see.

 

Christine Hopkins: I know what you're talking about. It is [00:12:00] pretty exciting. It's very exciting. Well, thank you so much for being a guest on Unboxing History, Shelby. This is, this is why Galveston is so fascinating.

People picture other coastal towns, but we are the coastal town of Texas. I mean, Galveston is where people came for many, many years. They spent family vacations. It's, it's fun how you have generations of people that have come to Galveston 

Shelby Rodwell: Absolutely. 

Christine Hopkins: To spend their summers Mm-Hmm. or their spring breaks.

And what an example of our history here. 

Shelby Rodwell: Absolutely. I know there's no other island. I'd rather be on . 

Christine Hopkins: I agree. 

Well, the Galveston County Museum is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 to 4. It's free and open to the public and

also want to invite you to do a private museum experience that's available on Tuesdays and Thursdays through our Padlock Mystery Game.

And you can also make an appointment for small group tours as well. So thank you so much for joining us for Unboxing History. Please follow and we'd love to hear from you on what you'd like to see more on Unboxing [00:13:00] History.