New Orleans as Galveston
Outside of Texas, Galveston’s history isn’t well known. But for the latter half of the 1800′s, Galveston was the largest and most sophisticated city in the state of Texas. In addition to its major port facilities, it claimed “the state’s first post office, first naval base, first bakery, first gaslights, first opera house, first telephones, first electric lights and first medical school.” At the time, it would have been reasonable to think that Galveston would be the “Houston” of Texas. Galveston’s surging progress ended abruptly. On Sept. 8, 1900, a hurricane battered the island and killed approximately 6,000 people. Galveston wasn’t wiped off the map but in 1980 Galveston was ranked the 29th largest city in Texas. Today it is mostly a quaint tourist destination with a charming city center that is reminiscent of New Orleans.
Joel Garreau thinks the tourist neighborhoods of New Orleans, the French Quarter and the Garden District (maybe some of CBD), about 10% of the city, will be fine. But the rest of the city, which contained about 400,000 people, will not be rebuilt. He asks, “What will New Orleans be known for in 100 years?” and concludes that it will basically be Galveston. Perhaps an equally salient question is, What will Baton Rouge look like in 100 years? What will it look like 5 years? With a sudden influx of 200,000 people, many of which will stay in the city, Baton Rouge has also been changed forever.