GALVESTON

1894 Opera House: The Opera House sustained flood damage from 8-10 feet of water in the building. The roof was damaged by the wind.

The Galveston Historical Foundation Architectural Salvage Warehouse is open for business on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 908 Tremont. The second floor now houses our Preservation Resource Center and Education departments. The loss of research materials from Hurricane Ike is mitigated by donated materials from supporters. In addition, we are shipping back from Michigan the materials salvaged from the Custom House and will begin this spring to restore the documents that were flooded.

Ashton Villa is closed as a museum as we prepare to begin work on the HVAC and bricks. In 2007, the National Park Service gave us a $150,000 grant for work on the house that is soon to be underway through the Save America’s Treasures program. In the meantime, we have repaired the ballroom and will lease the former ticket and retail area to the Galveston Convention and Visitors Bureau for its island visitor’s center. Rentals of the ballroom continue but are severely constrained by the lack of heat and air conditioning.

Bishop’s Palace is stabilized after Hurricane Ike. GHF is now making plans to rehabilitate and restore the first floor visitor’s center where several feet of water entered the house. GHF recently received a grant to support hurricane recovery at the Palace from the Burkitt Foundation of El Paso. GHF was notified in December that Bishop’s Palace is a 2008 recipient of a Save America’s Treasures grant of $300,000 for restoration and repair of its unique roof. Bishop’s Palace opened for weekend and holiday tours in October and is seeing a steady increase in visitation.

Galveston Arts Center suffered significant damage and will remain closed until further notice. We are estimating repair and renovation costs to be approximately $850,000 and are anticipating a reopening date of July 2009.

Galveston County Historical Museum is still without electricity and a functioning HVAC system. GHF is discussing with Galveston County officials and the Galveston County Historical Commission opportunities to restructure the museum and its space. We will update everyone as this develops through the spring but for the meantime the museum is closed to visitors.

George Sealy House: Damages to the property include fencing, trees, and the memorial pavilion roof.

Lone Star Flight Museum: The Texas Aviation Hall of Fame was destroyed by Hurricane Ike. It may open again sometime in the future, but for now it is closed to the public. The other side of the museum with all the flying airplanes should be open in about two or three more weeks. There may not be much to see, but at least the doors will be open again. The clothing artifacts were almost all destroyed and we are now attempting to get what clothes and uniforms that appear to be salvageable cleaned and back into artifact storage. We have been operating without a curator since October and we could probably use some help with conservation of the artifacts.

Moody Gardens: The majority of the damage was flood damage. Some of the buildings received wind damage.

The Rosenberg Library sustained flood damage to the first floor, mechanical/electrical damage and some wind damage. The entire children’s book collection was lost. There was no other damage to the special collections or archives.

The Samuel May and Sarah Williams House fared well through the storm. New resident curators at the house moved into the property in November. This property did receive damage to the HVAC system and is now repaired with funding from insurance.

SEAGULL II, our educational boat, is being repaired at Pier 77 in Galveston. While damage was not enough to total her, the U.S. Coast Guard required repairs to the vessel. These will be completed by February, 2009, making her available for tours and charters soon afterwards. Our historic shrimper, the SANTA MARIA, is being repaired and will soon be available once more for visitation.

St. Joseph’s Church, managed by GHF but owned by the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, received minimal wind damage, but lost the HVAC system underneath the building to flood water. This site did not have flood insurance and a later effort will be initiated by GHF to raise the funds for restoration of the systems necessary for rental and visitation.

The Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum will reopen this month. We have been working this whole time to reinstate the power and plumbing to the rig, and had to wait on a larger picture within the port's damaged infrastructure. We will have a new gift shop building by summer and hope to quickly get back to our pre-hurricane plans for a major rig refurbishment.

Texas Seaport Museum’s workshop is open while sail training continues on ELISSA. Visitors are able to tour ELISSA daily and to shop in our retail center. Volunteers cleaned debris and replaced sections of the dock. Some of the real heroes and heroines of the storm are the volunteers for ELISSA. The volunteers and staff did massive amounts of work, laboring for hours putting the dock back in order and salvaging lost items from the shop and pier. The workshop at TSM will require major reconstruction and repair as will the pier that extends beyond it. GHF will fund this in part from insurance with the remainder coming from FEMA, which is able to fund reconstruction of museum sites. The Jones Building, which houses our seaport theater, museum, and retail areas, is damaged on the first floor and needs extensive repairs including HVAC, restrooms, and public museum spaces. These projects are being scheduled now and will be completed in spring, 2009.

The U.S. Custom House (1861) is still holding moisture in its walls to the height of its flood line in some locations. We are expanding the process of removing moisture while we start our rehabilitation of the first floor. The repair of the HVAC system, elevator, and most of the electrical on the first floor are costly and time-consuming projects. The General Services Administration is offering $40,000 toward the elevator repair cost of $68,000 from a special “Good Neighbor” fund. Insurance money and FEMA support may help complete the rehabilitation.

Sources:

Dwayne Jones, Executive Director, Galveston Historical Foundation; Alexandra Irvine,
Executive Director, Galveston Arts Center; Herb Kavanaugh, Lone Star Flight Museum; Lisa Lisinicchia, Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig & Museum; Kathleen Bergeron, FEMA

BACK TO TOP

BEAUMONT

The McFaddin-Ward House suffered minor repairable damage to main house and Carriage House (windows mostly), and we’re trying to save our 120-year old Live Oak that partially fell over. We’ve been open and are grateful to our docents who returned ready to give museum tours.

Source:

Judith W. Linsley, McFaddin-Ward House

BACK TO TOP

CONROE

Heritage Museum of Montgomery County: The museum sustained only minor damage to one building. It's slow right now but other than that we're back to normal.

Source:

Janice Holmes, Heritage Museum of Montgomery County

BACK TO TOP

ORANGE

The W.H. Stark House reopened for public tours on November 1, 2008. The Stark House was closed three times in 2008 for hurricanes and yet our visitor’s attendance for 2008 was greater than the previous year. In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, the adjoining Carriage House to the Stark House was flooded which resulted in the movement of over 3,000 objects and two staff offices. Only minor damage occurred to decorative art objects, thanks in part by a comprehensive Emergency Preparedness plan. While the Carriage House is expected to remained closed to visitors until late 2009 or early 2010, the W.H. Stark House is open and welcoming all visitors.

Source:

Patricia L. Herrington, W.H. Stark House

BACK TO TOP

HOUSTON

Houston Police Department Museum: We suffered no damage to the museum itself, however, we have a large display area in an adjacent academic building on the academy grounds; this area had a small amount of water penetration. However, after we observed the water while assessing for damage, we got it all out, and dry...no artifacts suffered any damage.

Houston Railroad Museum (www.houstonrrmuseum.org) had the tree removed that fell on to the Santa Fe Railway Post Office car. The car sustained no significant damage, and the museum was able to hold its annual Open House the first Saturday in November in conjunction with National Model Railroad Month. The museum will reopen on its regular time table in early April.

Sources:

James Chapman, Police Museum; Tom Marsh, Houston Railroad Museum

BACK TO TOP

RICHMOND

George Ranch Historical Park: A number of the historic structures received minor to moderate wind damage.

Source:

Kathleen Bergeron, FEMA

BACK TO TOP

HUNTSVILLE

Sam Houston Memorial Museum: The museum building, education center and historic homes received no damage. The grounds were heavily damaged with significant tree loss. All downed trees and debris have been cleaned up with FEMA assistance. Plans for reforesting and beautifying the grounds are underway.

Sources:

Michael Sproat, Sam Houston Memorial Museum

BACK TO TOP

HUMBLE

Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Gardens: The property received damage to fences and trees. No damage was reported to historic structures, however, a circa 1985 building was damaged.

Source:

Kathleen Bergeron, FEMA

BACK TO TOP

JASPER

Beatty-Horton House: The circa 1927 house sustained minor damage

Source:

Kathleen Bergeron, FEMA

BACK TO TOP

LIBERTY

Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center: Despite having minor damage, the total cost for environmental services, repairs, and debris removal was $31,130. It appears that FEMA will pay for 75% so the storm damage cost us a total of $7,782. We estimate that final repairs will be made by the end of February.

Ike caused the following damage:
l. Loss of power and air conditioning-humidity control for seven days. TSLAC contracted with Munters to provide humidity control unit and a generator for the unit from 9/19 to 9/25. Final cost approximately $14,000.
2. Destruction of sixty-four trees on the grounds that prohibited access to the site. $7,950
3. Damage to security gate and electric gate operators. $ 5,680
4. Main Sign at entrance and flag pole ropes damaged. $300
5. Drain spouts were damaged. $700
6. Minor window, shutter and roof damage to three historic homes: $2500

Source:

Robert L. Schaadt, Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center

BACK TO TOP