Transmission Shop in Galena Park, TX

Issac Batterson and his family settled in the area in 1833; it was a part of the Ezekiel Thomas survey. The area of Galena Park began as the settlement of Clinton in 1835. The center of what would become Galena Park was a 1,000-acre (400 ha) tract that Batterson purchased from the estate of Ezekiel Thomas. The settlement originally served as a farming and ranching community, but in the 1880s transformed into a railroad center along the new Port of Houston. With the coming of the petrochemical industry in the early 1900s, Clinton again transformed into a refinery center.

Clinton attempted to establish a post office in 1935, but the request was denied, as another Clinton, Texas, had established the name. The settlement’s name was changed to Galena Park after the Galena Signal Oil Company of Texas, which built the first refinery there. Galena Park’s original name survives today as the name of a major street in the city, Clinton Drive. Because of the 1935 incorporation, Houston did not incorporate Galena Park’s territory into its city limits, while Houston annexed surrounding areas that were unincorporated. By the late 1930s Houston was growing as a port, so Galena Park expanded. Since the 1940s, area residents considered the city to be a part of greater Houston.

The economy of Galena Park began to suffer in the early 1980s, when cranes used to haul ship cargo were reduced; prior to the early 1980s, a team of workers, known on the docks as longshoremen, took up to one week to unload cargo off a ship. Many lived in the Galena Park area and contributed to its local economy. The use of cranes, however, led to ships unloading all cargo in less than one day. The 1980s also hit Galena Park’s economy with layoffs from the steel mills as the U.S. steel contracted due to overseas competition. The economy further decreased after the September 11, 2001 attacks, when seaport administrators tightened security rules that governed whether sailors could leave ships docked at port.