Galveston and the Great Storm of 1900

Clara Barton, as President of the American National Red Cross, tried to help. Flyers asking for donations to help the homeless were just one aspect of what she, and many others, did.

Seventy-eight years old, when she led Galveston's relief efforts, Barton had been known as the "Angel of the Battlefield" during the Civil War. Galveston was her last major relief effort.

But Clara Barton did more for Texas than help the needy in Galveston. Other towns had also been hard hit by the Great Storm of 1900. Orchard growers, in nearby Pasadena, had sustained massive damage.

Knowing the farmers needed a crop which could grow quickly, Barton thought about strawberries. She had 1.5 million plants shipped to Pasadena. It was a life saver for many farmers who were able to depend on berries for cash as they rebuilt their orchards.