Galveston "News," C. S.A.
Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Founded 1842 by Samuel Bangs, Texas' first printer. Published after 1843 by Willard Richardson, who put up the first 4-story building in Galveston to house the offices and printing plant. Soon after the Civil War began in 1861, cut back from a tri-weekly, to weekly. When Governor Francis R. Lubbock in 1862 asked civilians to evacuate, moved to Houston. Destroyed by fire in February, resumed publication in April on straw paper or yellow tissue, and with few columns. Galveston items came by messenger, while back home a Union sympathizer freely published "Flake's Bulletin." The "Texas Almanac," a sideline first put out in 1857 to attract immigration and summarize state events, was published in war years in Austin by David Richardson as the "Tri-Weekly Almanac Extra." Confederate veteran A. H. Belo joined the "News" staff in 1865 and in 1866 moved with it back to Galveston. In 1875, became chief owner of the "News" and "Texas Almanac." In 1878 he installed Texas' first telephone from his office to his home. With the founding of the Dallas "Morning News," Oct. 1, 1885, Belo became the first publisher with duplicate newspapers issued over 300 miles apart.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in 1842 by Samuel Bangs, Texas's first printer, the Galveston News grew under Willard Richardson into a major paper housed in the city's first four-story building. The Civil War forced it to flee to Houston, print on straw paper and yellow tissue, and shrink its columns, but it endured; under Confederate veteran A. H. Belo it later founded the Dallas Morning News in 1885, pioneering twin editions issued 300 miles apart.
Why it matters
The paper's survival through war and its innovations, including Texas's first telephone line, trace the rise of a free press and modern communications in the state.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When the Galveston News began in 1842, Texas was an independent republic, and Galveston was its busiest port. Cotton, immigrants and news all came through the island. A newspaper there was the state's window on the wider world.
The Civil War turned that openness into danger. Galveston's harbor made it a target for the Union blockade. In 1862, Governor Francis R. Lubbock urged civilians to leave the island, and much of the population fled inland. The city changed hands during the war, and life there was badly disrupted for years.
The war also brought shortages across the Confederacy. Paper, ink and type were hard to get, and many Southern newspapers shrank, merged or shut down. A paper that kept printing on whatever it could find was doing something close to heroic.
People & events
The News was founded by Samuel Bangs, remembered as Texas's first printer. Willard Richardson soon took it over and built it into an institution. He housed the offices and press in Galveston's first four-story building, a sign of how much weight the paper carried.
The war tested everything Richardson had built. The paper dropped from three issues a week to one. When civilians were told to leave Galveston, it moved to Houston, and there it burned. Two months later it was back, printed on straw paper or yellow tissue in only a few columns. Island news came by messenger. Meanwhile in Galveston, a Union sympathizer openly ran a rival paper, Flake's Bulletin. Richardson's side project, the Texas Almanac, kept going too: David Richardson published it in Austin during the war as the "Tri-Weekly Almanac Extra."
After the war, a Confederate veteran named A. H. Belo joined the staff and moved with the paper back to Galveston. Within a decade he was its chief owner. In 1878 he strung Texas's first telephone line from his office to his home. In 1885 he launched the Dallas Morning News, becoming the first publisher to run twin newspapers more than 300 miles apart.
Its place in the American story
The story of the Galveston News follows the growth of the American press in miniature. It began as a frontier printing shop, survived a war that killed many of its peers, and grew into a modern business that used new technology to reach a wider audience.
The Texas Almanac is its own lasting legacy. It was created partly to attract immigrants and sum up the state's affairs, and it became a long-running reference work on Texas, still published today. And the Dallas Morning News, which Belo launched from this Galveston paper, grew into one of the country's major newspapers.
The wartime chapter shows how the press was divided and tested during the Civil War. One Galveston paper printed on tissue in exile while a Unionist rival published at home. That tension between loyalty, survival and a free press ran through communities all across the divided nation.
If you visit
Galveston's historic downtown makes it easy to picture the News in its prime. Much of the island's nineteenth-century business district still stands, with iron-fronted commercial buildings that recall the busy port city this paper covered.
As you read the marker, think about how news traveled then: by ship, by messenger, and by hand-set type, one letter at a time. It's hard to imagine a paper printed on straw or yellow tissue. So is the leap from that to a telephone line across town.
Galveston is an easy day trip or weekend from Houston. You can pair this marker with the island's historic neighborhoods, its maritime past, and its museums. Anyone interested in how Texans got their news will find this a good starting point.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Samuel Bangs
- · Willard Richardson
- · A. H. Belo
Themes & tags
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