War on Rats: the architecture of the bubonic plague in Galveston

Abstract

Galveston, Texas is one of the oldest seaport cities in the Gulf of Mexico west of New Orleans, making it a historically prime location for disease outbreaks. The bubonic plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, likely spread to Galveston via infected rats and fleas on steamboats. Known as the Black Death, the bubonic plague infected 17 Galvestonians from 1920 to 1921. This article examines the “War on Rats,” the public health response to the Galveston bubonic plague outbreak in the 1920s. As part of public health practices at the time, the rat-proofing of buildings provides a glimpse into the intersection of public health and architecture. This exploration of the war on rats in Galveston offers insights into 20th-century examples of cross-disciplinary collaboration to promote human health in urban contexts.

As one of the oldest seaport cities in the Gulf of Mexico west of New Orleans, Galveston has been a prime location for disease outbreaks. The intersection of commerce and immigration allowed humans, animals, and goods to enter easily as vectors in Galveston, the largest port city in Texas in the early 20th century. Following the 1900 Galveston hurricane—the single deadliest natural disaster in US history—Galveston entered a period of economic and political reconstruction. By the 1920s and 1930s, Galveston had developed an emerging tourism industry that supplemented its strong maritime industry built upon its history as a natural port.¹ Although Houston and other port cities along the Gulf Coast began to challenge Galveston’s dominance over Texas’ shipping business by the early 1920s, Galveston remained a prominent port, especially due to its geographical advantages and highly accessible railroads.

The accessibility of Galveston, while contributing to its strong cotton export industry and economic growth, also made it vulnerable to communicable diseases. Indeed, the bubonic plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, likely spread to Galveston via infected rats and fleas on steamboats. The Galveston outbreak was not unique, as several bubonic plague outbreaks—suspected to be from the same source—occurred in other Gulf Coast ports in the 1920s.² In fact, during the first quarter of the 20th century, 496 human plague cases were reported in the United States, with 344 reported as bubonic plague.³ Y. pestis spread to multiple port cities, mainly along the California and Louisiana coasts.⁴ However, it appears that Y. pestis was only able to establish successfully in port cities along the Pacific Ocean. Among Gulf Coast ports, Y. pestis appears to have never spread beyond rodent populations within the cities—a phenomenon attributed to unfavorable environmental conditions as well as effective public health responses.³ As examined in this essay, one such public health response—the “War on Rats” in Galveston during the 1920s—left lasting impacts on the city’s history and architecture.

THE FIRST CASE

The first case arrived in the summer of 1920. On June 8, a 17-year-old boy began experiencing plague symptoms: he was cold, dizzy, and his right femoral gland had a swelling, or “bubo.”¹ Investigators found rats near the grain store where he worked as a collector as well as a dead rat and fleas at his home. Eight days later, the young man was unconscious. Four hours after he was admitted to John Sealy Hospital’s isolation ward, Emil Horridge became the first victim of Galveston’s bubonic plague. Figure 1 shows documentation of the first human case of bubonic plague in Galveston in a laboratory notebook.⁵ Two hours after Horridge died, Dr. Henry C. Hartman (1881–1963), chairman of the Department of Pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, began the autopsy.⁶ As reported by Hartman and his colleague, Dr. Anna M. Bowie (1890–1980), in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Horridge’s autopsy included pathologic findings of hemorrhagic necrosis of the right femoral gland, cloudy swelling and edema in the heart, marked hyperemia of the lungs, an enlarged spleen with hemorrhages, acute nephritis, fatty degeneration of the liver, and erosions in the gastric mucosa.⁷

Figure 1.

Summary of laboratory work: Plague Laboratory, Galveston Vol. I. Courtesy of the Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library.

On June 18, 1920, the Galveston Daily News announced, “What may be bubonic plague is found here.”⁸ More cases ensued across a broad range of age groups and people with various occupations, including a waiter, a nightwatchman, a longshoreman, and others. No common source of the outbreak was established. In total, 17 cases of bubonic plague and one case of pneumonic plague were reported in Galveston, including a case acquired by Bowie through a needlestick injury during an autopsy.²

THE WAR ON RATS CAMPAIGN

To combat the spread of the deadly disease, Galveston officials launched a “War on Rats” campaign with supervision from the US Public Health Service. Through a joint effort between Galveston officials, the Texas State Board of Health, and the US Public Health Service, a plague laboratory was established at Twentieth Street and Avenue C (Mechanic Street) in downtown Galveston, close to where several cases were documented (Figure 2).⁹ Dr. Mark F. Boyd (1889–1968), a University of Texas Medical Branch microbiologist, was appointed director of the Galveston Plague Laboratory. Born in Minnesota on May 21, 1889, Boyd graduated from the University of Iowa with a master of science and doctor of medicine. Prior to becoming the first head of the University of Texas Medical Branch’s Department of Bacteriology and Preventive Medicine, Boyd was a Charles Follen Folsom teaching fellow in hygiene at Harvard Medical School, associate professor of bacteriology and hygiene at the University of Nevada, and epidemiologist for the Iowa State Board of Health.^10,11 During the Galveston bubonic plague outbreak, Boyd documented the plague control program through photographs, journal entries, and data collection.

Figure 2.

Galveston Plague Laboratory (1920). Courtesy of the Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library.

Forty rat trappers were hired to exterminate rat dwellings, fumigate structures, and rat-proof buildings and ships—common anti-plague practices at the time (Figures 3 and 4).^12,13 Galveston citizens were encouraged to trap and kill rats, document their location, and deliver them to the plague laboratory. From early July through December 1920, 46,623 rats were trapped and examined by Boyd and his colleagues, with a total of 67 infected rats identified (Figure 5).^2,14

Figure 3.

Rat trappers with their daily catch (1920). Courtesy of the Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library.

Figure 4.

Galveston building after fumigation (1920). Courtesy of the Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library.

Figure 5.

Dr. Mark Boyd (far right) dissecting rats in the Galveston Plague Laboratory (1920). Courtesy of the Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library.

The intersection of public health and architecture during the Galveston bubonic plague outbreak can be seen by looking at public health recommendations at the time. In August 1920, state and regional health officers convened with US Public Health Service authorities at a special conference in Galveston and Beaumont, Texas, to discuss the bubonic plague situation.¹⁵ The officials adopted several resolutions focused on executing effective public health responses to prevent the spread of the bubonic plague, including cost-effective “rat surveys” and ordinances to regulate proper rat-proofing. The next month, September 1920, W. H. Kellogg, the director of the Bureau of Communicable Diseases for the California State Board of Health, published an article in the American Journal of Public Health stating: “Wage relentless warfare against the rat in all the seaports of this country regardless of whether or not plague has yet appeared. Accompany this with laboratory examinations of rats so as to know the exact moment plague appears and to have information of the progress of the epizootic among them when it does appear; and finally, enforce rat-proof construction, particularly of wharves and warehouses.”⁴

Accordingly, rat ordinances were executed by the local Galveston government, requiring all buildings, stables, and outhouses to be rat-proofed by October 1920. However, rat ordinances were nothing new to Galveston. In 1912, the city adopted a previous rat-control ordinance focused on sanitation and the removal of trash. When the 1920 outbreak occurred, a stricter ordinance was enforced. The ordinance included 18 sections that detailed the exact requirements for rat-proofing. All buildings, outhouses, and super-structures were classified into two classes. Class A buildings were required to “have floors made of concrete, which concrete shall not be less than three inches thick and overlaid with a top dressing of cement, mosaic filling, or other impermeable material laid in cement mortar and such floors shall rest without any intervening space between.”¹⁶ Class B buildings were required to be “set upon pillars or underpinning of solid wood, or concrete, stone or brick laid in cement mortar; such pillars or underpinning were to be not less than 18 inches high for a building 30 feet or less in width. For buildings over 30 feet in width, the minimum height must be at least six inches or greater for each additional 10 feet of width.” To improve sanitation and prevent the development of rat nests, run-down outhouses were demolished, and maintenance standards for the removal of trash from under houses were implemented (Figure 6).¹⁷

Figure 6.

Workers demolish a building (1920). Courtesy of the Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library.

In a coordinated public health effort, Galveston defeated the bubonic plague through extensive rat trapping, the fumigation of buildings and ships, and the rat-proofing of structures. The use of rat-proofing to combat the spread of bubonic plague was recognized to be so important that C. E. Hauer, the chief sanitary inspector for the US Public Health Service, published “A Guide to the Proper Rat-Proofing of Buildings” in Public Health Reports in April 1921.¹⁸

CONTEXTUAL FACTORS AND COLLABORATION IN DISEASE RESPONSE

While Galveston was successful in responding to bubonic plague, it is important to note that disease outbreaks occur in the context of complex, intersecting economic, social, and political forces. In 1900, only 20 years prior to the appearance of bubonic plague in Galveston, the single deadliest natural disaster in US history killed an estimated 8000 to 12,000 people, demolished over 3600 homes, and destroyed critical infrastructure.¹⁹ The devastation of the 1900 Galveston hurricane forced Galveston to rebuild its infrastructure, economy, and government in the following years. Accordingly, commercial activity in Galveston suffered, while competing cities in the surrounding areas expanded their economic influence, particularly Houston, with the completion of its ship channel in 1914.²⁰ The lasting effects of the 1900 Galveston hurricane on the city’s infrastructure and economy may have helped to limit the potential spread of the bubonic plague. At the same time, the rise of other economic spheres of influence, such as the nearby Houston port, competed with Galveston for commercial shipping and thus limited the potential for the disease to spread through rats on incoming ships.

Within the historical context of the geographic region, the Galveston bubonic plague outbreak was one of several outbreaks in Gulf Coast ports in the 1920s that are considered part of the Third Plague Pandemic which originated from the Yunnan region of China.^21,22 The progression of the bubonic plague outbreaks in the Gulf Coast region is noteworthy. Compared to the other bubonic plague outbreaks in port cities along the Pacific Coast, the Gulf Coast ports appear to have experienced a limited outbreak that failed to spread beyond the cities. For Galveston, the War on Rats—a coordinated public health intervention—likely played a significant role in its successful management of the outbreak.

While bubonic plague infections in the US during the 21st century remain sporadic²¹ and most prevalent in the Southwest and Pacific regions,²³ the effects of the bubonic plague and the war on rats can still be seen in Galveston’s architecture today. A number of buildings remain with the quintessential raised foundational concrete barriers of the 1920 rat ordinances that required all structures to be rat-proofed. A few corner stores still contain the original basement rat-proofing (Figure 7). One historic building in Galveston, the City National Bank, was completed in 1920 at the height of Galveston’s extensive rat-proofing. The building still stands in downtown Galveston today. Recognized as one of the city’s most important early 20th century buildings, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Figure 7.

Rat-proofing of a former corner store in Galveston. Concrete was used to fill in the cavity approximately 12 to 13 inches from the wall plate. Courtesy of Source (https://www.sourcehistory.com/).

The rat-proofing of buildings in Galveston offers a glimpse into the intersection of public health and architecture. Architects and urban planners play a role in promoting health and ensuring that our environment enhances physical, mental, and social well-being. The War on Rats in Galveston showed how promoting human health in urban contexts requires cross-disciplinary collaborations among healthcare professionals, policymakers, city planners, and the community.

Disclosure statement/Funding

The author reports no funding or conflicts of interests.