The population had reached 3,000 when the Galveston hurricane of 1900 wrecked the town. Velasco rebuilt slowly, enduring fluctuations of poverty and prosperity. By 1914, with a population of 1,000 and only one newspaper remaining, the community had a fish and oyster plant and shipped cattle, cotton, cane sugar, and syrup. The population dropped to a low of 400 in the mid-1930s during the Great Depression, when the town supported only 12 businesses.