Extensive hurricane damage to the Galveston Campus and surrounding neighborhood, 1900
The pioneer spirit of the John Sealy nurse faced its greatest test on September 8, 1900, when the worst hurricane in United States history struck Galveston with deadly force. The loss of life and destruction of property were staggering. The city was virtually destroyed. More than 3,600 buildings were demolished by wind and water, and more than 5,000 lives were lost. When the chairman of the University of Texas Board of Regents Medical Committee received news that the school was badly damaged and might not open on October 1, he wired back “The University of Texas stops for no Storm!” The students and staff worked day and night under impossible conditions to care for the sick and injured and to repair the damage to the university. The Nurses’ Home was completely destroyed. Dr. Allen J. Smith, a professor of pathology in the Medical Department, described the part played by Home for Trained Nurses the nurses in the aftermath of the storm: “They were left without a home, and for the most part, without clothes, other than those on their backs. For days and weeks they were crowded into a few unoccupied private rooms in the hospital; they knew the press for food and water the first few days; and all through the dreary time until some order and comfort came back to them as to others, they showed only the tried badge of courage and hope.”
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