East End Flats

[plumber2]

There was an informative history of the East End Flats in the Galveston Daily News "Our County" section this past Sunday. I was really surprised at the history and the many attempts to develop it. It appears that there were just as many attempts to stop development as there were to reclaim it. The most recent attempt by the Sullivan family has been halted. The political fighting and name calling was too much for them, so the family withdrew their support.

George Mitchell made a similar attempt back in the 70's, offering the federal government land on Pelican Island as a swap. The Fed's turned it down saying that the value of the East End Flats was higher than the Pelican Island track, and that they would have to prepare the Pelican Island site to receive dredge materials.

For those of you that are not aware, the original 1906 seawall turned north at 6th St and terminated near the harbor. The but end of the seawall was visible to passers by on Harborside Drive up until just recently. The UTMB Central Plant sits on top of the spot now. The seawall portion eastward from Stewart Beach was added in the 1930's. The military added the higher portion abutting Ft. San Jacinto. I parked up there on occasion, in the 1970's, with a date before taking her home. The vantage point was refered to as "Cherry Hill", for obvious reasons.