Broadway Palms

06/12/2025

OMG!! There was a giant opossum in the Kitchen last night at Broadway Palms!!

06/05/2025

05/09/2025

Sometimes I forget how bad the house was when I restored it in 2008…

Wow! I was just dumb enough to not know what I was getting myself into!

The house appraised for ZERO…in 2008.

04/19/2025

Awesome!!!

In previous posts, we've touched on The Blue Herron's history with Judge Robert G. Street.

This time, we take it back to the original owner, Mrs. Rebecka Olmstead Behrman. The following info has been provided to us by Jami Durham at the Galveston Historical Foundation.

In 1824 she married George August Ludwig Behrman at his hometown of Hannover, Germany. Between 1826-1837 the couple had seven children. In 1843, the family immigrated to Galveston where George was one of the island's earliest pharmacists (more on that in a future post). By 1850, Rebecka was widowed and supporting five children still living at home. The family relocated to Houston where George Jr. took work as a merchant clerk to support the family. Presumably, Rebecka and two of her daughters remained in Houston during the Civil War while her sons all eventually enlisted in the Confederate Army, and by 1866 were all dead.

By January 1867, Rebecka had returned to Galveston and purchased two lots on Broadway, on the southeast corner of 17th Street where she built two houses. Situated directly on the corner, 1627 Broadway (demolished 1913, now Broadway Palms) served as the family's primary residence, which she shared for the remainder of her life with daughters Elise and Sara. In 1868, Rebecka contracted to build 1623 Broadway (The Blue Herron) on lot two, which she utilized as a rental property. In 1870, she gifted lot two and the tenant cottage to her youngest daughter, Sara.

From texastimetravel.com, we find that both Elise and Sarah were dressmakers and likely worked and lived in the cottage on the corner. By 1886, Rebecka had passed and only Elise and Sarah were living in the cottage. In 1910, their older widowed sister, Theresa, moved in. During this time, they maintained 1623 as a rent cottage that generated income for the family.

By 1912 Theresa and Elise died just seven months apart. In February of 1913, Sarah paid the note on the corner cottage and sold it to banker Charles Harper Anderson for $600 and he promptly demolished the cottage. Born in 1875 at the Locust Hill Estate in Ivy, Virginia, Anderson was the great-great-nephew of Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark fame), who was also born at Locust Hill. Anderson moved to Galveston in 1894, passed the bar in 1901, and soon began handling land-related legal matters for J.C. League (namesake of nearby League City). He continued to serve the family's estate after League's death. Anderson sold the property on the corner (1627) to J.C. League, but Anderson later regained ownership in 1914 who built the current building as his primary residence.

Anderson sold the tenant cottage at 1623 to widowed attorney Robert G. Street in March 1913.

Attached are images from texastimetravel.com from 1871 and 1881 with birds-eye views of the two cottages. On the left is the The Blue Herron (1623) and on the right is the cottage that is now Broadway Palms on the corner of 17th Street.

04/02/2025

Finished!!!!! 17 months!!! 10,500 lbs of crushed granite. 7,600 lbs of flagstone ! Doing it myself definitely took longer, but I saved $15,000. That was a lot of work !!!

02/23/2025

Thanks again Bayou City Blues for choosing to stay at Broadway Palms for Mardi Gras !!! Check them out on FB !!!

02/05/2025

I had the 3rd floor balcony torn down and rebuilt in 2016.

01/18/2025

“Rum Runners” cooking team enjoying dinner at Broadway palms! They love Pirates! Like me!! They are in Galveston for the chili Cookoff tomorrow! Go grab some chili !

01/09/2025

This is Galveston!!! Photographer unknown…

12/13/2024

Once again, Captain Mike, Mrs Captain Mike, and Peter had a great time at Dickens this past weekend!

12/13/2024

Broadway Palms has a “Sailor’s window”!! It’s on the south side of the roof facing the alley. Sailors could look out the window to see if their ship was still docked in the Gulf. The view…and breeze…from the window are fantastic. I can see the top of the Pleasure Pier Ferris wheel from there.

12/04/2024

Say Hello to the most recent addition to Broadway Palms !!!