SELECTED IMAGE FOR GALLERY SHOWING ABOVE – FULL ROLL BELOW
ABOUT THE SELECTED IMAGE: When first approached with the topic for this year’s project, health, I decided I would try my best to capture some of the rich history of Galveston that happens to coincide with issues related to public health. I took a few photographs of what was formerly known as the “Yellow Fever Cemetery” on Broadway, and Old Red on the UTMB campus. The subject of this photograph is the foundation of a corner store on the east end of the island. The low brick wall around the perimeter of this building would in all likelihood have been an early 20th-century addition, commonly known as a “rat wall.” Cases of humans infected with the plague were reported along the U.S. Gulf Coast from 1900-1925. In an effort to reduce the spread of the disease by rodents, local governments required commercial buildings to construct these rat-proof walls along the perimeter of the building.
