Tiki Island, Texas

The George and Cynthia Mitchell Memorial Causeway is a set of causeways in Galveston, Texas, United States. Two of the routes carry the southbound and northbound traffic of Interstate 45, while the original causeway is restricted to rail traffic. It is the main roadway access point to Galveston Island. The second access point is Bolivar Ferry. The causeway carries traffic over Galveston Bay and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The original causeway was built in 1912 and carried both rail and auto traffic. The auto traffic was transferred to new causeways built to the west in 1939, leaving the original bridge for rail traffic. The original route was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Bayou Vista is a city in Galveston County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,537 at the 2010 census. It received severe damage from Hurricane Ike on September 13, 2008.

Scholes International Airport at Galveston (IATA: GLS, ICAO: KGLS, FAA LID: GLS) is three miles southwest of Galveston, in Galveston County, Texas, United States. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a reliever airport.The airport provides charter service and has no scheduled flights; the runways can accommodate airplanes as large as the Boeing 767-200.

Moody Gardens is an educational tourist destination, with a golf course and hotel in Galveston, Texas which opened in 1986. The non-profit destination, established by The Moody Foundation, [5] uses nature to educate and excite visitors about conservation and wildlife. Moody Gardens features three main pyramid attractions: the Aquarium Pyramid, which is one of the largest in the region and holds many species of fish and other marine animals; the Rainforest Pyramid, which contains tropical plants, animals, birds, butterflies, reptiles, and a variety of other rainforest animals including free-roaming monkeys and two-toed sloths; and the Discovery Pyramid, which focuses on science-oriented exhibits and activities. Another major attraction at Moody Gardens is Palm Beach which has white sand imported from Florida.The Palm Beach is mainly open in the summer, with a small water park for children, freshwater lagoons, a lazy river, tower slides, a hot tub, ziplines, and a splash pad play area for children. Moody Gardens also had at one time a RideFilm Theater with motion-based pod seating, the MG 3D Theater features the largest screen in the state of Texas, 4D Special FX Theater, paddlewheel cruise boat, a hotel, golf course and a convention center. One of the highlights of Moody Gardens is the many dynamic uses for its available space. Many local tourists and business travelers from the city of Houston and around the world visit the Gardens yearly. In 2004, the site debuted its expanded facilities which offers roughly 60,000 square feet of space available for exhibition and business purposes [6] . The owners commissioned a landscape design from Geoffrey Jellicoe. It is described in Gardens of the Mind: the Genius of Geoffrey Jellicoe by Michael Spens (Antique Collectors Club, 1992).

The Port of Texas City is a major deepwater port in Texas City, Texas at Galveston Bay, United States. Its location on the bay, which is used by the Port of Houston and the Port of Galveston, puts Texas City in the heart of one of the world's most important shipping hubs. As of 2008 the Port of Texas City was the 14th leading port in the United States by total tons of trade and as of 2007 it was the 87th leading port in the world, according to the American Association of Port Authorities.

Galveston Island ( GAL-vis-tən) is a barrier island on the Texas Gulf Coast in the United States, about 50 miles (80.5 km) southeast of Houston. The entire island, with the exception of Jamaica Beach, is within the city limits of the City of Galveston in Galveston County. The island is about 27 miles (43.5 km) long and no more than 3 miles (4.8 km) wide at its widest point. The island is oriented generally northeast-southwest, with the Gulf of Mexico on the east and south, West Bay on the west, and Galveston Bay on the north. The island's main access point from the mainland is Interstate Highway 45 which crosses the Galveston Causeway that crosses West Bay on the northeast side of the island. The far north end of the island is separated from the Bolivar Peninsula by Galveston Harbor, the entrance to Galveston Bay and the Houston Ship Channel. Ferry service is available between Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula. The southern end of the island is separated from the mainland by San Luis Pass. The San Luis Pass-Vacek Toll Bridge connects the San Luis Pass Road on Galveston Island with the Bluewater Highway that leads south into the town of Surfside Beach. The residents of the island (the nontourists) classify themselves in two ways: born on the island (BOI) and islander by choice (IBC). “BOI” is cited in print from at least 1956 and “IBC” is cited in print from 1975.

Tor Baseball Field (a.k.a. Tors-Whitecaps Field, Whitecaps-Tors Field, Whitecaps Field, GISD/Whitecaps Field) is the home of the Galveston Ball Tornadoes located at 83rd and Stewart Roads on Galveston Island. The field has also been the home of the Galveston College Whitecaps baseball team from 1992 to 2009. However, the Galveston Independent School District took over the field after the 2009 season causing Galveston College to look for a new home. The field was also ravaged by Hurricane Ike in September 2008.

The Texas City refinery explosion occurred on March 23, 2005, when a flammable hydrocarbon vapor cloud ignited and violently exploded at the isomerization process unit of the BP oil refinery in Texas City, Texas, killing 15 workers, injuring 180 others and severely damaging the refinery. All the fatalities were contractors working out of temporary buildings located close to the unit to support turnaround activities. Property loss was $200 million ($300 million in 2024). When including costs of repairs, deferred production, fines and settlements, the explosion is the world's costliest refinery accident. The direct cause of the accident was the ignition of a heavy hydrocarbon vapor cloud which emanated from raffinate liquids overflowing from the top of a blowdown stack. The source of ignition was probably a running vehicle engine. The release of liquid followed the automatic opening of a raffinate splitter column overpressure protection caused by overfilling. Subsequent investigation reports by BP, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), and an independent blue-ribbon panel led by James Baker identified numerous technical and organizational failings at the refinery and within corporate BP.

Galveston Bay Refinery, also known as Marathon Texas City Refinery, is an oil refinery operated by Marathon Petroleum within the Texas City, Texas Industrial Complex on the edge of Galveston Bay. With a capacity 593,000 barrels per day, it was the second-largest petroleum refinery in Texas and third-largest in the United States circa 2008, and the eighth largest refinery in the world circa 2018.The refinery was established 1931 as Republic Oil refinery. In 2018 it merged with Marathon's other refinery in Texas City into a single refining complex.In 2021, it was the greatest emitter of the carcinogen benzene into the United States environment, among all refineries in the country.

The 1947 Texas City disaster was an industrial accident that occurred on April 16, 1947, in the port of Texas City, Texas, United States, located in Galveston Bay. It was the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history and one of history's largest non-nuclear explosions. The explosion was triggered by a mid-morning fire on board the French-registered vessel SS Grandcamp (docked at port), which detonated her cargo of about 2,300 tons (about 2,100 metric tons) of ammonium nitrate. This started a chain reaction of fires and explosions aboard other ships and in nearby oil-storage facilities, ultimately killing at least 581 people, including all but one member of Texas City's volunteer fire department.: 100 The disaster drew the first class action lawsuit against the United States government, on behalf of 8,485 plaintiffs, under the 1946 Federal Tort Claims Act.

La Marque ( lə MARK) is a city in Galveston County, Texas, United States, south of Houston. The city population in 2020 was 18,030. La Marque experienced considerable growth in the 1950s, during which the city provided a general administrative and trades and crafts workforce helping to support the petrochemical complex in adjoining Texas City. It is the hometown of U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and Norman Bulaich.

Galveston ( GAL-vis-tən) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of 209.3 square miles (542 km2), with a population of 53,695 in 2020, is the county seat of surrounding Galveston County and second-largest municipality in the county. It is also within the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area at its southern end on the northwestern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Galveston, or Galvez's town, was named after 18th-century Spanish military and political leader Bernardo de Gálvez, 1st Count of Gálvez (1746–1786), who was born in Macharaviaya, Málaga, in the Kingdom of Spain. Galveston's first European settlements on the Galveston Island were built around 1816 by French pirate Louis-Michel Aury to help the fledgling empire of Mexico fight for independence from Spain, along with other colonies in the Western Hemisphere of the Americas in Central and South America in the 1810s and 1820s. The Port of Galveston was established in 1825 by the Congress of Mexico following its independence from Spain. The city was the main port for the fledgling Texas Navy during the Texas Revolution of 1836, and later served temporarily as the new national capital of the Republic of Texas. In 1865, General Gordon Granger arrived at Ashton Villa and announced to some of the last enslaved African Americans that slavery was no longer legal. This event is commemorated annually on June 19, the federal holiday of Juneteenth. During the 19th century, Galveston became a major U.S. commercial center and one of the largest ports in the United States. It was, for a time, Texas' largest city, known as the "Queen City of the Gulf". It was devastated by the unexpected Galveston Hurricane of 1900, whose effects included massive flooding and a storm surge which nearly wiped out the town. The natural disaster on the exposed barrier island is still ranked today as the deadliest in United States history, with an estimated death toll between 6,000 and 12,000 people. The city subsequently reemerged during the Prohibition era of 1919–1933 as a leading tourist hub and a center of illegal gambling, nicknamed the Free State of Galveston until this era ended in the 1950s with subsequent other economic and social development. Much of Galveston's economy is centered in the tourism, health care, shipping, and financial industries. The 84-acre (34 ha) University of Texas Medical Branch campus with an enrollment of more than 2,500 students is a major economic force of the city. Galveston is home to six historic districts containing one of the largest historically significant collections of 19th-century buildings in the U.S., with over 60 structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places, maintained by the National Park Service in the United States Department of the Interior.