The Great Galveston Hurricane and the Sisters of St. Mary's Orphanage: "They did not save them, but they did their best. Try to save something of real value in the world."
In September and October 2024, two historic hurricanes slammed into Florida's Gulf coast and wreaked havoc into the Appalachia region, impacting 6 states, and resulting in over 230 casualties. It is in these times that we look back and remember other storms that have made a lasting impact on our country.
The Galveston Hurricane made landfall south of Houston as a Category 4 storm on September 8th, 1900. The following day, storm-related headlines emerged across the US.
In Birmingham, Alabama, the front-page story read, "Storm centers on Texas coast. Fear felt for safety of city of Galveston. Communication cut off. Force of the hurricane reaches 100 Miles inland. Strikes Houston at midnight. Wind reaches velocity of sixty miles an hour and great damage was being done."
With no means of communication, the articles relied solely on hearsay. One rumor suggested all the bridges linking Galveston Island to the mainland were destroyed. The writer expressed disbelief that such an event could have occurred:
It is said that the bridges leading from the mainland to the island have been swept away by the terrible forces of the wind and the rolling up of the water in the bay. The bridges are four in number, three railroad uses and one pedestrian bridge. It seems hardly credible that all these bridges could be swept away without the city suffering tremendously in the loss of buildings, general property and lives.
However, it was exactly what happened losing not only their wagon bridge, once deemed the "longest exclusively wagon bridge in the world," but also two railroad bridges.
The devastation also caused significant loss of both property and lives. In all, it left an estimated 8,000 casualties, cost the city between $20-$30 million in property loss, and destroyed 2,636 houses, damaging several thousand more.
One of the storm's most tragic stories is about St. Mary's orphanage, established in 1874. All 10 sisters and at least 90 children perished in the storm. Only 3 boys survived.
Their deaths were reported on September 15th in The Grand Rapids Herald:
The Catholic Orphan Asylum disappeared leaving but slight traces in the form of ruins. For a time very little of the wreckage was found. It was supposed that the inmates, some ninety-nine sisters and little children, had been swept out into the gulf when the waters receded. Within two days bodies of several of the victims at the asylum have been found. The spectacle presented was such as to make stout-hearted men, inured by work among the ruins, break down.
It appeared that when the heroic sisters found the water rising all around the asylum their only thoughts were for the little charges. They tied the children in bunches and then each sister fastened to herself one of these bunches of orphans, determined to save them or die with them. Two of these bunches have been found under wreckage; in each case eight children had been fastened together and then tied to a sister.
The Dallas Morning News recorded the names of the lost sisters: "Sister Camillus, Superior; Sister Mary Vincent, Sister Mary Isabelle, Sister Raphael, Sister Catherine, Sister Genevieve, Sister Felicitus, Sister Mary Inbar, Sister Evangelist, and Sister Benignus."
By September 10th, the Bismarck Tribune was reporting the hurricane as the "Greatest Tradgedy of Modern Times." It wasn't wrong. To this day the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 is listed as the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history.
On the first anniversary of the storm, thousands gathered to remember those who were lost. Religious leaders said prayers and led special sermons. A cornerstone was placed in memory of St. Mary's Orphanage.
St. Mary's Orphanage was rebuilt, blessed, and dedicated on May 4th, 1902. The new building cost $28,000. Originally located outside of town, the new building was constructed 1-mile within city limits.
In 1914, Mr. Sunday of Colorado used the sisters' story in a sermon urging the congregation to always do their best despite the potential outcome, emphasizing, "They did not save them but they did their best. Try to save something of real value in the world."
The orphanage maintained operations until it closed its doors permanently in 1967. Lorraine Hofeller, the final survivor of the hurricane, passed away in 2002 at the age of 106. She was only 4 years old when the hurricane occurred.
Delve into Early American Newspapers, 1690-1922 and discover a wealth of articles and stories, each capturing similar tales of heroism, struggle, and loss.
