Kemah ( ) is a city in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, southeast of

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

along west

Galveston Bay Galveston Bay ( ) is a bay in the western Gulf of Mexico along the upper coast of Texas. It is the seventh-largest estuary in the United States, and the largest of seven major estuaries along the Texas Gulf Coast. It is connected to the Gulf of ...

. The city's population was 1,807 at the 2020 census, down from 2,330 at the 2000 census. Located in Galveston County, Kemah's main industry is shipping. Originally a small fishing town, the city has become a tourist destination for the area's restaurants and attractions, which are contained within the Kemah Entertainment District. In 2012 Kemah was ranked the top

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

spot in the

Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the Office of Management and Budget, United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–Pasadena–The Woodlands, is the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical ...

area.

Geography

Kemah is located in the northeastern corner of Galveston County at (29.5425, –95.0203) and is part of the

Clear Lake Area Clear Lake, or the Clear Lake Area, is a region in parts of Harris and Galveston County in Texas, United States. It is part of the Galveston Bay Area, which itself is a section of the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area.Kimb ...

. It is bordered to the west and south by

League City League City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in Galveston County, within the metropolitan area. The population was 114,392 at the 2020 census. The city of League City has a small portion north of Clear Creek within Harris County zoned f ...

, to the northwest by Clear Lake Shores, to the southeast by unincorporated Bacliff, and at its northern end by Seabrook across the Clear Creek Channel in Harris County.

Texas State Highway 146 State Highway 146 (SH 146) is a north–south highway in southeastern Texas beginning at Interstate 45, I-45 near La Marque, Texas, La Marque and Texas City. It then crosses over the Fred Hartman Bridge over the Houston Ship Channel w ...

leads through the center of Kemah, leading north to Baytown and south to

Texas City Texas City is a city in Galveston County, Texas, United States, on the southwest shoreline of Galveston Bay. Texas City is a deepwater port on Texas's Gulf Coast, as well as a petroleum-refining and petrochemical-manufacturing center. The popul ...

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

is to the south, and

is to the northwest. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, Kemah has a total area of , of which are land and , or 3.55%, are water.

History

The land, measuring approximately , was the basis for a town that would be called Kemah. This land was granted to one of the first colonists who was a farmer and stockraiser, Michael Gouldrich, on August 24, 1824. Gouldrich's land was located near Clear Creek and

. However, after Gouldrich disappeared, William Vince from Harris County acquired Gouldrich's Clear Creek land. Afterwards John Flanders, an Alamo fighter who was not supposed to have taken any land, bought the property from William Vince and it was renamed "Flanders Grove" or "Flanders Labor". When Flanders died at the age of 36, Allen Vince, of Vince's Bayou, was appointed executor of Flanders' estate in 1841. On May 28, 1844, there was a petition to sell the land to pay off debts. Soon after, the land was appraised for $2 an acre and sold to Jonathan D. Waters. He bought the Clear Creek land on July 2, 1844, for $354. After October 1850, Waters sold of the Clear Creek property to various people, but Henry Kipp eventually owned the land. During the 1890s, the Bradford and Kipp families moved to the area and portioned off the land into town lots in 1898, thus establishing the town known as "Evergreen". It was located along the

Texas and New Orleans Railroad The Texas and New Orleans Railroad (TNO) was an American rail company in Texas and Louisiana. It operated of railroad in 1934; by 1961, remained when it merged with parent company Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific. Morgan's Louisian ...

, and the area was also called "Shell Siding" for the

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

shell

midden A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human oc ...

s lining the bay, in some places deep. After the

1900 Galveston hurricane The 1900 Galveston hurricane, also known as the Great Galveston hurricane and the Galveston Flood, and known regionally as the Great Storm of 1900 or the 1900 Storm, was a deadly and catastrophic Atlantic hurricane which became the List of di ...

, when the majority of the towns around Galveston Bay were destroyed, the Kipp and Bradford families were forced to evacuate, but later moved back to Evergreen in 1901. They rebuilt and restored the town, making two-story homes with porches for themselves on 10th street. In order for there to be a post office in the town, the name had to be changed because there was already a town called Evergreen. The name "Kemah" was chosen with the

Karankawa The Karankawa were an Indigenous people concentrated in southern Texas along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, largely in the lower Colorado River and Brazos River valleys."Karankawa." In ''Cassell's Peoples, Nations and Cultures,'' edited by Joh ...

Indian word meaning "wind in my face". In 1907, John H. Kipp Sr. established a post office in the newly named town of Kemah. From the 1920s to the 1950s Kemah became a significant tourist destination resulting from investment by the Maceo crime family which ran Galveston during this time. The syndicate created a lavish

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

district along the boardwalk featuring venues such as the Chili Bowl and the Kemah Den. During the 1950s the state

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

and the Texas Rangers finally shut down the Galveston vice empire. Kemah's casinos were closed and its tourism base declined drastically. During the 1950s a major commercial shrimp fishing fleet was established in the town as the Clear Creek Channel was opened. Though

Hurricane Carla Hurricane Carla was the most intense tropical cyclone landfall in Texas in the 20th century. The third named storm of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season, Carla developed from an area of squall, squally weather in the southwestern Caribbean Sea ...

severely damaged the city in 1961, the city rebuilt and the fishing business revived. During the 1970s, in part as a result of the establishment of the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight controller, flight control are conducted. ...

on Clear Lake, tourism began to re-emerge as pleasure boats began to fill the lake. On October 22, 1966, the town of Kemah adopted Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes and became a General Law City. In 1992, the city expanded to , or , and the population increased to 1,300 residents. In the late 1990s, Kemah continued to expand and began to be known as a tourist and recreational hot spot. This occurred when Landry's Restaurants opened the

Kemah Boardwalk The Kemah Boardwalk is a 60-acre Texas Gulf Coast theme park in Kemah, Texas, approximately 30 miles southeast of Downtown Houston, Texas. The Boardwalk is built entirely along the shores of Galveston Bay and Clear Lake. The complex is owned an ...

. The boardwalk now includes amusement rides for tourists and residents to enjoy. On the morning of September 13, 2008, a

Category 2 hurricane Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy *Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) *Category (Kant) *Categories (Peirce) *Category (Vais ...

named Ike made landfall in Galveston County. Although the hurricane caused more damage to Galveston, Kemah still felt the effects of the storm. Hurricane Ike caused power outages in Kemah, destruction of homes and business, and streets to be piled with trees and debris. However, most importantly, the

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

affected the Kemah Boardwalk the most. Although it did not take Landry's long to start to rebuild the tourist attraction, a waterline in the Landry's Restaurant is a reminder of the devastating hurricane.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 1,807 people, 778 households, and 578 families residing in the city.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 2,330 people, 892 households, and 566 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 1,075 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 75.36%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 3.82%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.86% Native American, 3.48% Asian, 15.79% from other races, and 0.69% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 24.76% of the population. There were 892 households, out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.7% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.5% were non-families. 29.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.25. In the city, the population was spread out, with 27.4% under the age of 18, 11.6% from 18 to 24, 36.9% from 25 to 44, 18.0% from 45 to 64, and 6.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 115.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 114.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $51,620, and the median income for a family was $64,063. Males had a median income of $50,061 versus $31,953 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $23,373. About 7.8% of families and 8.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 5.7% of those under age 18 and 10.0% of those age 65 or over.

Government and infrastructure

The Kemah Fire Department and the Kemah Police Department serve Kemah.

Crime

In a 2008 ''

Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown Houston, Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely ...

'' article, "Gator" Miller, publisher of small newspapers such as the monthly magazine ''Seabreeze'' and the entertainment magazine ''Night Moves'', said that a

White American White Americans (sometimes also called Caucasian Americans) are Americans who identify as white people. In a more official sense, the United States Census Bureau, which collects demographic data on Americans, defines "white" as " person having ...

gang from Bacliff committed crimes in Kemah.

Education

Pupils in Kemah attend schools in

Clear Creek Independent School District Clear Creek Independent School District (CCISD) is a school district based in League City, Texas, United States. The district serves most of the Clear Lake Area and some other neighboring parts of the Houston metropolitan area. CCISD is the 29 ...

. The community is within the Board of Trustees District 1, represented by Robert Allan Davee as of 2008. CCISD was established in 1948, partly from the former Kemah school district. The former Kemah district served up to junior high school with high schoolers going to Webster. Pupils are zoned to Stewart Elementary School (formerly Kemah Elementary School) in unincorporated Galveston County, Bayside Intermediate School in

, and

Clear Falls High School Clear Falls High School is a public high school located in League City, Texas and is part of the Clear Creek Independent School District. The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, had its first graduating class in 2013. The school opened ...

in League City. Previously residents were zoned to League City Intermediate School, and Clear Creek High School in League City. Residents of Clear Creek ISD (and therefore Kemah) are zoned to the

College of the Mainland A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary schoo ...

, a

community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

.Texas Education Code, Sec. 130.174. COLLEGE OF THE MAINLAND DISTRICT SERVICE AREA.
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References

External links

City of Kemah official website

Handbook of Texas Online: Kemah, Texas

Kemah Historical Society
{{authority control Cities in Texas Cities in Galveston County, Texas Galveston Bay Area Greater Houston Populated coastal places in Texas