Page 33 - Galveston Monthly March 2019

lined the streets - many designed by Clayton - told the story of
a city of great affluence and influence.
Galveston was poised to cement its moniker as the Wall Street
of the South. fate had other plans. The Great Storm of 1900, a
category 4 hurricane, barreled into the island, destroying more
than two-thirds of the city, and causing significant damage to
others.
A 1900 silent film by Thomas Edison shows a panoramic look
at the devastation of the storm, including a shot of The Tremont
house - still standing, but with the city crumbled around it.
Accounts of the time report that George korsy, manager of
the hotel, and his staff did what they could to provide aid and
shelter to survivors. A week later, the hotel was the site of the
wedding of Ernest Mayo and Mrs. Brice Roberts, both of who
had lost family in the hurricane.
“The hotel closed on November 1, 1928. Demolition began
on December 11, 1928,” said Jami Durham, property research
and cultural history historian, Galveston historical foundation.
“John Egert received the contract to demolish it. Mr. Egert
was a prominent citizen, known for moving houses during the
grade-raising. he was also a contractor.”
But it wasn’t the end of the hotel. “The building that houses
the third incarnation of the Tremont was built in 1879, and
designed by houston architect Eugene T. heiner,” Durham says.
“The three-story building housed the dry-goods wholesale and
mercantile operations of Leon & h. Blum. heiner expanded the
building further down Mechanic Street in 1882. The Galveston
Architecture Guidebook notes the firm had the most extensive
street frontage of any of the downtown wholesale houses.
After the Panic of 1893, the firm went bankrupt and closed in
1896.”
Images on right courtesy of HABS his wife Cynthia Mitchell - who are credited with reviving TOP LEfT: The 1879 Leon & h. Blum Building, circa 1920; ABOvE: Photos
visionary oilman and Galveston native George Mitchell and
downtown Galveston - bought the Blum Building in 1981. They
worked with the San Antonio architecture firm ford, Powell
& Carson to rehabilitate the building for use as a luxury hotel,
Durham says.
“The Mitchells received permission from the National
of the front and side of The 1879 Leon & h. Blum Building that were
Park Service - the building is in the National Register Strand
taken in August 1967 during the historic American Buildings Survey.

MARCH 2019 | GALVESTON MONTHLY | 33