Lindsey Graham

How are you going to convince me to stomach that risk?

You open your mouth to reassure him, but realize you don't have a good answer.

You're hit with the difficult truth that if Galveston is truly going to endure for the long term, it's going to require drastic actions.

In the aftermath of the Galveston hurricane, newspaper editors across the country questioned whether the devastated city would ever recover its status as an economic powerhouse, and Houston leaders cautioned investors to stay away from their longtime rival.

But the local business community refused to let the hurricane threaten the city's future.

The editors of the Galveston Daily News declared, Galveston does not intend to succumb to her crushing misfortune, but will again resume her place as the Great Port of the Gulf.

So once the city's most immediate needs had been taken care of, local leaders turned to long-term planning to restore Galveston to its former glory.

And in the months after the storm, an influential group of businessmen known as the Deep Water Committee seized the opportunity to overhaul the local government.

For years, many residents had complained that the mayor and city council were plagued by inefficiency and infighting.

To address this issue, the Deepwater Committee drew up a new city charter, proposing replacing the sitting mayor and city council with a five-member city commission, with each member overseeing a key department, including police and fire, finance and revenue, streets and public improvements, and water and sewers.

The goal was to make the city government more businesslike and nonpartisan.

In an address to residents justifying the change, the committee declared, We believe that municipal government, as it has been administered in this community for the past 20 years, is a failure.

It did not require the storm to bring a realization of this fact, but it brought it home with greater force upon us.

It is a question with us of civic life or death.

In July 1901, over the protests of sitting city council members, the Texas state legislature approved the new city charter.

And two months later, a mix of elected and governor-appointed commissioners took their seats.

In the years that followed, hundreds of other cities across the country adopted what became known as the Galveston Plan, from Houston, Texas to Oakland, California, as the reforms undertaken in Galveston did make the government more efficient and businesslike, helping to reassure potential investors.

Still, it was clear to many that if Galveston was going to truly recover, the city commission would need to take drastic steps to prevent future disasters, so they finally began making plans to build a protective seawall around the island.

In November 1901, the commissioners selected a board of engineers to design and build the seawall.

The following year, construction began on a concrete barrier beginning on the eastern end of the island and extending more than three miles along the beach.