Galveston, TX Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1900

The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 brought winds of 135 miles per hour to the city which was often dubbed the "Wall Street of the South" because of its many banking and financial institutions .

Answer: Jean Lafitte

Jean Baptiste Lafitte, born in 1776, was a famous privateer and pirate. Lafitte came to Galveston around 1817 and remained until 1821 when the U.S. Navy drove him out.

Answer: 1904

The Galveston seawall took two years to complete. Construction began in 1902 and was completed in 1904.

Answer: False

Moody Gardens is a major attraction in Galveston. It consists of three elegant glass pyramids that can be seen if you are coming to the island from Houston. Attractions at Moody Gardens include the Aquarium Pyramid, Discovery Pyramid, Rainforest Pyramid, Colonel Paddlewheel boat tours, a small beach, an IMAX 3D theater, and the Moody Gardens Resort Hotel.

Answer: Schlitterbahn Galveston

The waterpark was scheduled to be opened in 2005, but a fire delayed the opening. The term Schlitterbahn means "slippery road" in German and was the name of the original waterpark in New Braunfels, Texas.

Answer: The Oleander City

The official nickname of Galveston is The Oleander City, due to the large number of colorful, vibrant oleanders in the area. The oleander is an extremely toxic plant to people, particularly young children. The oleander has often been used as a poison in the South, the most famous case being in the murder of two girls and their mother at the Myrtles Plantation in Louisiana. Both the leaves and the berries of the oleander are toxic.

Answer: Hotel Galvez

Once a showplace which hosted such guests as Theodore Roosevelt, Howard Hughes, and Frank Sinatra, the hotel sat vacant for a number of years before undergoing a renovation in the late 1980s. The hotel now boasts elegant Victorian furnishings and a lush, tropical swimming area.

Answer: Illegal gambling

Originally opened in 1929, the Balinese Room was turned into an entertainment hot spot in the 1940s by Sicilian immigrants Sam and Rosario Maceo. Originally known as The Grotto and then Sui Jen, the name was changed to the Balinese Room after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, when a Japanese name was no longer desirable.

The back room of the club was famous for its illegal gambling and mob activity until 1957 when a raid closed it down. The Balinese Room was closed for a time, was remodeled and reopened for business in 2001 without the gambling element. Hurricane Ike ripped through the pier in 2008 and destroyed the Balinese Room.

Answer: Dickens on the Strand

The annual Christmas festival is Dickens on the Strand, celebrating the works of Charles Dickens, particularly A Christmas Carol. Every holiday season, people from all over don Victorian era attire and parade through the streets of the historical shopping district of Galveston known as the Strand.

This festival celebrates the Dickens era when Galveston was in its prime and was known as the "Wall Street of the South".

Answer: University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB)

The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) was established in 1891 on Galveston Island. It is the oldest medical school west of the Mississippi River. I'm not sure if any of the other answer choices even exist.