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Texas City History
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Texas City History Online
To celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Texas City, Moore Memorial Public Library created a permanent online historical exhibit about Texas City's history. This online exhibit was created by the library staff over a two-year time period.
To develop the articles, staff used:
- Print resources from our collection, archives and vertical file (including some materials donated to the library by community members)
- Authoritative sources available through the Internet
- Materials borrowed through interlibrary loan from other institutions
The exhibit has been designed with multiple and flexible access points, to accommodate varying levels and types of interest. Individuals can explore the exhibit by choosing specific topics of historical interest or proceed chronologically through the full span of Texas City history. For those who simply wish to view historical photographs, we have included a photo gallery of over 240 pictures. Users who would like a short, historical recap of the most important events, along with a sample of historical photographs from a particular time period, can choose the "Decades" option.
We envision this exhibit as a permanent record of the city's history. We hope to update and add new material to it as additional historical information and/or sources come to our attention, and as new historical events unfold. We have designed the exhibit to be a comprehensive overview of Texas City history as well as a photographic scrapbook of life in this community over the last 120 years.
History Links
Texas City 1947 Disaster Online Exhibit
The morning of April 16, 1947, started out as an average spring day, but by day's end several hundred Texas City residents lost their lives and thousands of dollars of property was destroyed when a ship in the port of Texas City exploded.
The 1947 Disaster Exhibit was created by staff librarians at Moore Memorial Public Library. It provides a description of the 1947 Disaster, its causes and its impact on the community. The exhibit includes photos, maps, and a bibliography of sources relating to the disaster.
Portal to Texas History
Curious about what Texas City used to be like? Take a trip into Texas City's past while sitting at a computer by visiting the Portal to Texas History. Historical photographs, including those of the U.S. Army Camp and the 1st Aero Squadron based in Texas City during 1913 to 1915, are available online at the Portal to Texas History.
Digitization of these photographs was planned and performed by the Digital Projects Unit of the University of North Texas Libraries and was made possible by grant funding from the Summerlee Foundation. Moore Memorial Public Library staff selected the photographs to be used and created the metadata to make online access possible.
Approximately 550 historical photographs have been digitized for Moore Memorial Library through the Portal to Texas History grant. The U.S. Army Camp/1st Aero Squadron collection is the first Moore Memorial Library collection to be released to the general public access through the Internet.
The library staff is very excited about this opportunity to make valuable, but fragile, historical materials available worldwide. And perhaps some of the persons viewing the collection will have additional historical information that will broaden our knowledge of Texas City in the past. Please call the library Reference Desk at 409-643-5977 or email Library Director Beth Ryker Steiner with any comments or questions about these collections.
Helen Edmunds Moore Online Exhibit
Who was Helen Moore? She was a worker, a volunteer, a state legislator, a traveler and a nature enthusiast. She worked tirelessly to help others and her community. In Texas City, Helen Moore is remembered largely in connection with Moore Memorial Library.
While she and her husband, Hugh Benton Moore, worked with the civic club to start the library, this event was only a small part of what she did with her life. Mrs. Moore worked to promote many worthy causes, including: women's right to vote, our community's readiness for enemy attack (during World War II), better conditions and treatment for the mentally ill and other persons cared for by the State of Texas, and better standards and practice in the medical profession.
The Helen Edmunds Moore Online Exhibit provides information about Mrs. Moore's life and her contributions to our community.
Texas City Sun Newspaper
Moore Memorial Public Library now has copies of the microfilm for the Texas City Sun newspaper from 1934-2004.
To find out more information and how to access the microfilm, please contact the Local History Librarian at 409-949-3007.