The Strand Historic District

The Strand Historic District occupies a six-block stretch of Strand Street in Galveston, Texas, running from 20th to 25th Streets on the island's north bay side. Once known as the 'Wall Street of the Southwest,' The Strand served as Galveston's primary commercial corridor during the late 19th century when the island was the most prosperous city in Texas and one of the busiest ports in the United States. The district's cast-iron-fronted commercial buildings, constructed from the 1870s through the 1890s, survived the catastrophic 1900 hurricane that devastated much of the island and today form one of the most complete surviving Victorian commercial streetscapes in the American South.

The buildings along The Strand have been meticulously restored and converted to boutique retail, restaurants, art galleries, and cultural attractions. Hendley Market (1855), the oldest commercial building on The Strand, hosts an eclectic mix of vintage dealers. The Galveston Arts Center presents rotating contemporary art exhibitions at no charge in a historic ground-floor space. The Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum occupies a decommissioned mobile jack-up drilling platform permanently docked at Pier 21 at the foot of The Strand.

Galveston's Mardi Gras celebration, which began in 1867 and claims to be the third-largest in the United States after New Orleans and Mobile, centers on The Strand. The two-week celebration each February draws hundreds of thousands of visitors for parades, masquerade balls, and the Grand Night Parade down Strand Street. The Dickens on The Strand festival in December recreates a Victorian Christmas market with costumed performers, carolers, and period market stalls.

Horse-drawn carriage tours depart from The Strand and cover the Victorian residential streets of the East End Historic District, providing context for the island's gilded-age wealth and subsequent decline.