The Strand Historic District
A 19th-century Victorian street of cast-iron façades, nicknamed the “Wall Street of the Southwest,” and the heart of Galveston’s walkable historic core, lined with seafood restaurants, candy shops and antique stores.
The Strand and the surrounding Postoffice Street area preserve a large number of Victorian commercial buildings from the 1870s to 1900s, with cast-iron façades and red-brick arched windows forming a continuous streetscape. In its day this was Texas’s most prosperous financial and trading district, earning it the nickname “Wall Street of the Southwest.” Today the district is full of seafood restaurants, old-fashioned candy shops where you can watch taffy being pulled (such as La King’s Confectionery), antique shops and galleries. Just to the north, the Pier 21 Galveston Maritime Museum and the Texas Seaport Museum (home to the Elissa tall ship) are within easy walking distance. The Mardi Gras carnival in February and the Dickens on The Strand festival in early December are the liveliest times to visit. The district is free to enter, street parking is metered, and it’s best to stroll here in the late afternoon and then head to the pier for sunset.
Opening hours
All day (shops about 10:00–18:00)
Nearby sights
- Texas Seaport Museum & Tall Ship Elissa
- Galveston Railroad Museum
- Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig & Museum
- Ashton Villa
- Moody Mansion
- The Bryan Museum
- The Grand 1894 Opera House
- East End Historic District