Murals-Americana Urban Art-Galveston

 Murals-Americana Urban Art-Galveston

Murals have fascinated us ever since we began exploring America in our RV a decade ago. If seen on the side of a train, bridge, etc we call it graffiti. However some graffiti does hold artistic merit. However, I digress as we are about to explore murals in historic Galveston. Like, Carlsbad, Yuma, El Paso, Catfish Row, San Antonio, or Lompoc murals have gained popularity in various communities across the country as a way of ‘softening’ a blank sterile wall, enhancing the intrigue of exploring an urban alley, or just dressing up the city landscape for residents and tourists alike.

There are useful self-guided tours for historic homes, tree sculpture, etc. and none for murals. So we decided to do our own self-guided tour of murals. A good starting point is Strand Street and 19th Street and head uptown. Waffle between Strand,  Mechanic, Market and Postoffice Streets. Many are clustered together along Kempner Street at Postoffice Street. An aside, Postoffice Street is a beautifully landscaped walk lined with street-level shops and eateries complimented by restored housing units above generating a friendly neighborhood atmosphere.

This warm summer day in July we walked most of the murals and on the way took photos of interesting inner-city streetscapes, i.e buildings not usually on the self-guided maps. Some murals require a drive. And the photographs of the murals are in no particular order, although they do follow an approximate track from 19th up to 24th Street. 

Along the way we encountered two Rosenberg Fountains. Originally there were 17 fountains (used for drinking and animals)commissioned by Henry Rosenberg and gifted to Galveston upon his death in 1893. His will surprisingly gifted buildings, monuments and fountains to the City; 15 items/structures remain in Galveston. These by themselves will provide the inquisitive with an interesting tour.

Below are photographs we took on our walk which started at The Strand and 19th Street (a good place to start looking for free on-street parking). Some of the murals we could not identify and they are not labeled. Enjoy the mural hunt; we found 22 locations with murals (some locations have multiple murals); there are many other mural locations throughout the city for those more ambitious.

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