Stewart Beach, Galveston, TX - Galveston, Texas - Family Beach Built After the Depression Following East Coast Model

Stewart Beach, Galveston, TX, is located on the Galveston Island in the southeastern part of the state on the Gulf of Mexico. Its address is 2100 Seawall Blvd at 6th St. There is approximately one mile of Galveston's 30 miles of sandy shore that makes up this beach.

The Beach, which is part of a beach park, has a children's playground behind it. The beach is directly backed by a boardwalk with concessions and games.

Various events are planned during the summer including sandcastle building tournaments and volleyball championships.

There is a concession for beach chair, boogie board and umbrella rentals and a snack bar that is located at the pavilion, along with a souvenir shop.

Beach amenities include a bath house with hot water showers and restrooms. There is no admission fee to the beach but vehicles are charged for entry to the park with a differentiated fee for cars and RVs.

There is a space here that is rented for events by the office of the Park Manager.

Stewart Beach, Galveston, TX is closed after the second weekend of October until the beginning of March. From March through May it is open from 9 AM to 5 PM on weekdays and 8 AM to 6 PM on weekends. From June through September the weekday hours extend to 8 AM to 6PM, staying open until 7 PM on weekends. In October the beach is open from 9 AM to 6 PM for the first two weekends only.

In addition to the abovementioned playground there are additional features for children. There is a lifeguard watching the waters as well as security personnel on the beach. The physical distance of this beach from other public beaches helps maintain its family character.

At the entry to the park where this beach is located, there is a miniature gold course, a walk-around human maze and a water slide. These features however, each have their corresponding fees for usage.

Occasionally bands are playing on the shore of this beach.

Stewart Beach, Galveston, TX can be witnessed by potential visitors in real time through a webcam placed there by Galveston.com.

Beach wheelchairs are rented to help keep the beach accessible to the disabled.

It is not rare to find a good amount of seaweed washed up on the shore here.

Early in the 20th Century the western part of this beach was privately owned and the eastern part belonged to the federal government. After the Mayor of Galveston visited the east coast in the early 1930s he convinced the private owners of a beach property to donate the area to the city and brought in the assistant manager of Jones Beach in NY to help in the construction and management of what would become the Stewart Beach Park.

The labor to build the park came when President FDR created the Works Progress Administration to put America back to work after the Great Depression in 1935. Local unemployed people were put to work with the federal funds to build the concession, restrooms and boardwalk. In 1941 this beach first opened. In 1949 the western section of the beach was added after being donated to Galveston by the U.S. Government.