The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-13

ed that mean much for the city. II
 was proposed to build a great seawall
 on the Gulf side of Galveston and raise
 the whole city. This involved the expend- iture of sum great in comparison with
 the citys resources, and it was an add-
 tional burden and sacrifice because it
 necessitated the raising of thousands of houses, the filling In of thousands of lots, the making of new streets and
 avenues and the installation of a new sewer system, but 1t had to be done or the city would be doomed to stagnate. Such a big undertaking takes a long
 time to accomplish. Possibly some of
 those who joined in the work had doubts
 as to whether it would restore Galveston
 in the favor of the outside world. They
 had some reason to doubt, for they had
 a long time to walt before they got re- suits. and while they waited the city was
 none too pleasant to live in. Only those who have dwelt In a city while 1t has
 been raised six eight or ten feet can ap-
 preciate the discomforts of such a time.
 Surely Galveston had more than it's
 share of trials through the storm, the
 depression of spirit that followed and
 then the hardship of raising the city, but
 1t bore 1t all bravely And then one day
 there came a bit of news that stirred
 the people as they had not been stirred
 for years. The Fellman Dry Goods com
 pany was going to build a skyscraper-
 big department store, a bigger and a handsomer structure than any other city
 in the southwest possessed. The tide
 was turning at last
 Probably if some concern announced
 today that it was going to build a big
 structure in Galveston it would not at
 tract unusual attention, but all the con- dtions combined to make the Fellman announcement dramatic. l.. Fellman, the head of the company, was threescore and ten, but had all the courage and | confidence of youth. For 50 years he had been merchant of Texas and nearly | all that time he had been in Galves% | ton. He, in his old age and in a time or doubt and gloom, was going to raise | in Galveston a monument to his confi- dence in its development and it's pos terity. No wonder his action stimulated | everybody. Men who had been think | ing of embarking in new enterprises de- | cided that the time now was ripe. Men | who had become Respondent because of
 the long period of depression began to | regain their spirits. Men who hesitated
 hesitated no longer.
 The old establishment of the Fellman
 company was at Market and Twenty second streets. The skyscraper was to be at Postoffice and Twenty-second a hoo of ', old the alley between was to be bridged so that the old and new structures practi- cally would be one. Although the sky | scraper, if put alongside the colossal | structures of Broadway would look small. | it was a skyscraper according to the standards of small cities, for it was to | be seven stories high and tower far
 above any other building in the city. When the foundation for the building was laid most of the people of the city went to see it. To them 1t signified far
 more than just building. It meant the
 advent of new and greater Galveston
 They had a pride in it out of all pro-
 portion to ordinary constructive work,
 and they watched its progress with deep interest.
 | But soon after the foundation was
 finished there was halt. The men re-
 mained idle few days and then were
 laid off. Persons who inquired the req
 son were told the material for the su- | perstructure was delayed. How soon i work would be resumed was hard to
 say. Maybe in sfew days; maybe a
 week or two.
 | The few days passed, and two weeks
 passed, and still the men remained idle. | Every day letters were sent to the
 north urging the hurrying forward of the material. It was the steel that was tying up the job. The order had been placed with the United States Steel cbr- poration long before, and the flrstfof
 the girders and beams should have ar
 rived before the foundations were fin-