Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainOn September 8, 1900, a storm surge killed 94 children and 10 nuns here; a historical marker and a Walmart now share the lot
6801 Seawall Blvd, Galveston, TX 77551
Research updated September 2026
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Public access; historical marker is viewable from the parking lot at no cost
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Flat commercial parking lot; historical marker is at ground level
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Est. 1874 · Galveston 1900 Hurricane · Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word · Texas Historical Commission Marker
The Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word established St. Mary's Orphanage in 1867 in connection with St. Mary's Infirmary in Galveston. In January 1874, Bishop Claude Marie Dubuis purchased 35 acres of beachfront property at what was then the western edge of the island and relocated the orphanage there. By February 1874, 28 children had moved to the new site. A second structure was dedicated in October 1874 to house girls; boys were kept in a separate building. The facility cared for children up to age 13 and was operated entirely by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.
The orphanage had survived earlier disasters. A fire in 1875 destroyed a building housing infants without casualties. A severe storm that same year damaged both dormitories. By September 1900, the orphanage was housing approximately 97 children.
The Galveston hurricane made landfall on September 8, 1900. Sustained winds exceeded 100 miles per hour, and a tidal surge of 15 to 20 feet overran the island's modest elevation. As the flood waters rose that afternoon, the 10 sisters on duty took the children to the upper floor of the girls' dormitory. Each nun then tied a length of clothesline around her waist and connected a string of children to herself — an attempt to keep the group together if the building failed. The buildings collapsed around 7:30 that evening. All 10 sisters drowned; 94 of the 97 children drowned with them.
Three boys survived: William Murney, Frank Madera, and Albert Campbell. They were carried off by the water, ended up together in a tree that had uprooted and was floating, and were eventually carried to safety. Their account of what happened at the orphanage was among the first eyewitness reports from the western end of the island.
The Sisters of Charity rebuilt and reopened the orphanage on new grounds the following year. A historical marker was dedicated at the 6801 Seawall Boulevard site in 1994. The original site now faces a Walmart Supercenter; the marker is positioned near the parking lot perimeter.
Sources
The St. Mary's Orphanage disaster is one of the most documented tragedies of the 1900 Galveston hurricane, and the site carries a heavy weight in local memory regardless of any paranormal dimension. The historical facts — 94 children and 10 nuns drowned in a matter of minutes, bound together by clothesline — are sufficiently stark that the ghost lore attached to the site is almost secondary.
Ghost-tour accounts report that Walmart employees have described hearing children's voices in areas of the store with no children present, and that toys have been found displaced or moved in the toy aisle. These reports circulate through multiple Galveston ghost-tour operators, though they are not drawn from documented internal records.
A parallel strand of local lore connects the orphanage to Hotel Galvez at 2024 Seawall Boulevard, which some accounts claim was built on or near orphanage-associated ground. That hotel has its own documented paranormal history — guests have reported phantom children running and laughing in corridors — though historians note that the Hotel Galvez site and the orphanage site at 6801 Seawall are distinct locations separated by more than four miles.
What is documented, and what does not require a paranormal frame to be affecting, is the historical marker at the site and the knowledge that this particular stretch of seawall was ground zero for one of the worst mass-casualty events in American history involving children.
A Texas Historical Commission marker dedicated in 1994 sits near the edge of the Walmart parking lot at 6801 Seawall Boulevard, marking the original site of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word's St. Mary's Orphan Asylum. The orphanage was destroyed on September 8, 1900, when a 15-foot storm surge overran the building. The marker is viewable from the parking area without entering the store.
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