For more than a century, Galveston has been an on-again, off-again home to oceanfront amusements, complete with rides, souvenir shops, carnival confections, and happy children. 

 Because of a combination of hurricanes and tough economic times throughout its history, Galveston has had many bathhouses, amusement facilities and pleasure piers come and go. Among Galveston’s most famous and storied amusement facilities now lost to time was the legendary Crystal Palace, dating back nearly 108 years. 

 When 1916 began it was a tumultuous, yet exciting time. The world was at war, Albert Einstein completed his theory of relativity, Charlie Chaplin was earning an unprecedented $10,000 a week as an actor, the resilient citizens of Galveston were rebuilding from a hurricane the previous year, and the spectacular Crystal Palace opened in July as a shining example of the spirit of the island. 

 The Palace was the latest business venture of G.K. Jorgensen, who came to the Island in 1907, and with just $180 in his pocket, started a very successful movie theater on Tremont Street. 

 The Island’s anticipation for the magnificent Crystal Palace had been building for months. The Galveston Daily News ran stories touting plans of an elaborate amusement facility, and Jorgensen ran ads seeking investors. A month-long name contest for the facility drew 720 entries from as far away as New Orleans. 

 Thirteen-year-old Edna Bennett, a schoolgirl at Sacred Heart Convent in Galveston won $25 for coming up with the name deemed most appropriate: “The Crystal Joy Palace.” It won over names such as “Isle of Delight,” “Cause-o-Joy,” “Tango Dips” and “Kool Kapers.” Designed by the renowned Dallas-based architectural firm of Orlopp & Orlopp, its walkway over the Seawall garnered much attention during construction. The viaduct was 68 feet long, and 16 ½ feet above the pavement and 12 feet wide. It was built to keep pedestrians safe from traffic by providing a way to go from the Palace to the beach. 

 

 With plans to make the $200,000 structure hurricane-proof, the Palace walls, floors and ceilings were constructed of concrete heavily reinforced with steel. Doors and minor accents were the only wood used during construction. 

 On June 29, 1916, the Galveston Daily News reported that the Crystal Palace would finally be open to the public the following Saturday. The announcement ran under an ad for Charlie Chaplin’s movie “The Fireman.” 

 Motion picture companies filmed the grand opening on July 1 for newsreels shown across the country. More than 7,000 eager Galvestonians and curious out-of-towners attended the ceremonies, which included diving contests, life-saving demonstrations, free movies and swimming races. 

 The opening of the Crystal Palace was instrumental in restoring Galveston as a tourist and resort destination. Rising above Seawall Boulevard, bordered by Tremont Street and Avenue Q, the Palace offered three floors of entertainment. The crowning glory of the Palace was its first-floor swimming pool, called the “large plunge.” 

 

 Accommodating up to 5,000 bathers at a time, and measuring 50 feet wide and 140 feet long, it was billed as the largest swimming pool in the south. Fresh salt water was pumped on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday nights, directly from the surf. 

 Adventurous bathers, including George Murdoch and August Smith, could be found trying out the springboards, 50 and 75-foot diving platforms, water chutes, swinging rings and other gymnasium apparatus. 

 Up to 700 people with a more relaxing day in mind could enjoy the poolside seating, while their children built castles in a small sand playground near the shallow end of the pool.

 For those who wanted to pursue less watery pleasures, on the first floor there was also a restaurant, barbershop, pool hall, bar, shooting gallery, souvenir stands and soda fountain. The second floor consisted of over 800 ladies and gentlemen’s bath and dressing rooms, and an additional 200 lockers to be used in case of a rush. 

 Spectators could stroll along a four-foot wide balcony surrounding the pool viewing bathers in the ocean and the indoor plunge. 

Tourists took advantage of the photo gallery to create personal keepsakes, a penny arcade, and café with live music, bowling, and access to the famous walkway over the Seawall. 

 Few people at this time owned their own bathing suits, so the Palace offered rentals of wool suits in styles that were in line with public modesty expectations of the day. 

 The third floor offered a roof garden, open-air motion picture theater and a 9,000-foot dance floor that was the largest dance pavilion in the state. Dances with live music were held every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

 An immense searchlight positioned on this level would illuminate the beach at night, enabling patrons to extend their visit for hours longer than previously possible. Visitors from all over the state walked from their beachside hotels and took horse-drawn carriages or drove their automobiles to spend the day or dance the night away. 

 The Palace truly took advantage of any opportunity to draw and amuse a crowd, living up to its motto of “It pleases us to please you.” When two fishermen caught a huge rayfish on September 2, 1917, Jorgensen invited them to bring their catch to the Crystal Palace for display, where the creature, measuring at over 15 feet, amazed visitors. 

 During the Roaring 20s, the Palace enjoyed year-round overflow customers from nearby gambling establishments and Edward’s Jazz Orchestra entertained customers at nightly dances. Gentlemen could attend for 55 cents, while ladies’ tickets were a mere 20 cents. 

Dance Master Miss Leona Lucille Mellen opened the Crystal Palace School of Dancing in 1921, occupying the daytime hours at the dance pavilion. 

 

 Galveston entertained a half million surf bathers in 1924, and 150,000 of those were at the Crystal Palace. Business was growing as quickly as Jorgensen could keep up with it. The Palace was at the height of its popularity by 1925. It seemed that the word “Crystal” was nearly everywhere on the Island. 

 Galvestonians were frequenting the Crystal Palace Pool and Bath House, Crystal Palace Café and Soda Fountain, and the Crystal Palace Drug Store. The latest hairstyles for men and women were created at the Crystal Palace Beauty Parlor and the Crystal Palace Barber Shop. 

 The Crystal Palace Dance Hall was a wonderful place to take your girl dancing, and visitors to the Island could stay at the Crystal Palace Hotel, where rooms were just one dollar per night. 

 The wave of prosperity waned, however, with the stock market crash of 1929. Fewer people could afford the luxury of vacations or unnecessary amusements, and the crowds dwindled in number. Managers of the Palace tried a variety of adjustments to the venue to keep the Palace afloat.

 In 1932, the roof garden was covered by stadium seating and renamed the Crystal Palace Wrestling Arena, featuring big name wrestlers from across the country. By 1935, Jorgensen offered the pool to the Red Cross for aquatic classes and rented out various areas for private parties. The night club, although open only one or two nights a week by then, was the only venue that had remained constant. 

Murdoch’s Bath House owner Sam Maceo purchased the bathhouse in October of 1937, and reopened it with minor improvements in April of 1938. Maceo’s changes weren’t enough to revive the Palace’s glory days, and by 1941 portions were demolished to make way for storefronts and an amusement park. Only the east wing and the viaduct remained. 

 The original restaurant continued to operate through World War II, the second war of its kind to which the Palace had stood witness. Boxing matches on the roof were its steadiest source of income, and the hotel rooms had long since evolved into small, low-rent apartments. 

 Rose Maceo, wife of Sam, announced in February of 1949 that the last two stories standing would be torn down to make way for a new one-story café with an amusement parlor. This is the building that by 1960s became the infamous “Golden Greek” restaurant and oyster bar, owned by Paul Santire and Vic Fertitta, now lost to history as well. 

 In the early years of the restaurant, Santire requested to list his establishment in the phone book under both “Golden Greek” and “Crystal Palace” due to the large number of people calling to locate the former establishment. 

 The architects had achieved their goal in making the Crystal Palace hurricane-proof, but it couldn’t overcome the wrecking ball. It seems that nothing is constant but change, and the willingness of indomitable Galvestonians to adapt to new situations.