Original Site of St. Mary's Orphan Asylum
Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Children orphaned by a yellow fever epidemic in 1867 were cared for temporarily in Galveston's St. Mary's Infirmary by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. In 1874 Galveston Bishop Claude Dubuis bought the 35-acre plantation and home of Farnifala and Laura Green located between this gulf front and Green's Bayou for use as a permanent orphanage. In early 1874 the Sisters of St. Mary's Infirmary founded St. Mary's Orphan Asylum by housing 28 children here at the site of the Greens' former residence. A 2-story facility for orphan girls was built nearby in October 1874. The girl's dormitory was all that remained of the orphanage after the storm of 1875. A new residence for boys was built by 1879. St. Mary's was caring for orphans from throughout Texas at the time it was granted a Texas charter in 1896. The catastrophic storm of 1900 completely destroyed the orphanage. Ten nuns and at least 90 children were tragically killed despite the nuns' valiant efforts to save the children by securing them to their own bodies with clothesline. Three orphan boys rescued at sea were the only survivors. St. Mary's Orphan Asylum reopened at 40th and Q streets in Galveston City in 1901 and remained there until closing in 1967. (1994)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
After yellow fever left Galveston children parentless in 1867, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word took them in, and in 1874 Bishop Claude Dubuis bought a gulf-front plantation to give the orphanage a permanent home. St. Mary's grew to care for children from across Texas—until the catastrophic hurricane of 1900 swept it away. Ten nuns tied children to their own bodies with clothesline in a desperate bid to save them; all perished, and only three boys plucked from the sea survived.
Why it matters
This site preserves one of the most heartbreaking chapters of the 1900 Galveston hurricane, the deadliest natural disaster in American history, and the devotion of the women who died shielding the children in their care.
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Related people
- · Claude Dubuis
Related events
- · 1900 Galveston hurricane
- · 1867 yellow fever epidemic
Themes & tags
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