This part of Texas has had more freezing temperatures the past 2 months than it has in..........well, I can't remember when. December luckily was dry. January has not been. People up north will laugh, but everything shut down around this area last Friday AND yesterday. That's right. Schools were closed, city and county government were shut down except for essential personnel, and the mayor asked private business to let people work from home. I know........BUT, there was ice and HOUSTONIANS DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DRIVE IN ICE. I am one so I can say it.
So, here are a few pics of the ice in Galveston. Galveston is usually warmer than Houston but there was some ice around.
So, since it was still very cold but dry today, Mr. W and I decided to do the tour of the Moody Mansion. I was born and raised in H-town and have visited Galveston more times than I can remember, however, I have never visited Moody Mansion.
The Moodys have been a key part of Galveston since around 1900. A couple by the name of Willis lived in Galveston, he was the banker, and she wanted a bigger, more beautiful home. Mr. Willis would not hear of it. Mr. Willis died and Mrs. Willis immediately began building a bigger, more beautiful home. Not the grieving widow....... It is estimated that she spent $150,000 to build the house. That was a great deal of money in the 1800s.
Mrs. Willis eventually died and left the home to her daughter who lived in New York. The daughter did not want the home and had no intention of moving to Galveston. So, she put the house up for sale. She received several offers but guess what happened right at that time. Yep, the 1900 storm that destroyed almost all of Galveston and killed approximately 6,000 people. The house was not damaged at all, but the devastation was so great to the island that all but one of the offers was withdrawn. The only remaining offer was from Mr. Moody for $20,000. The daughter took the offer and that included the furnishings.
Mr. Moody was the head of the Moody Bank and American National Insurance Co. He purchased the newspapers in Galveston, was the owner of the Galvez Hotel, and took over the then financially troubled, Hilton Hotels. He hired Conrad Hilton to help manage the hotels and Conrad eventually bought back some of the hotels. Mr. and Mrs. Moody had 4 children. Their oldest son was being prepped to take over all the corporations being run by Mr. Moody. The son was doing well at the time with investments but he was investing heavily in oil and gas which went against Mr. Moody's idea of investing. Along came the Great Depression and young Moody lost everything and was going to file for bankruptcy. Mr. Moody did not like the idea of bankruptcy being associated with the Moody name so he bailed young Moody out and paid all his debts. Interesting fact, when Mr. Moody died, he left young Moody $1. Evidently, his inheritance had been the bail out. Because of the bankruptcy, young Moody was not allowed to take over the corporations and handle the family fortune. The younger brother went to Chicago on business, caught a cold that turned into pneumonia, and died. So, the oldest daughter, Mary, became the head of 50 corporations upon her father's death.
Mary Moody and her husband did not have any children. She specified in her will that upon her death, no one would live in the house after her and the house would become a museum. Her wishes were carried out. There were original furnishings, clothing, toiletries and other items in the house. It was still very pretty. No pictures were allowed inside the house. The Moody's liked cars and some of those were in a garage on the premises. I did get pics of some of those and the outside of the house.
The tour was very informative and interesting and well worth the admission fee. If you ever get to Galveston, go visit the Moody Mansion.
The back of the mansion
I just learned so much more from your blog than when I went to the three big mansions when I was in high school for art history. I love the history of old houses!
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