Jamacia Beach

Jamaica Beach is on Farm Road 3005 and West Bay just south of Galveston Island State Park on Galveston Island, southwest Galveston County. The site, that of a former Karankawa burial ground, was developed in 1957 by Johnny Goyen and Earl Galceran of the Jamaica Corporation, as a resort subdivision by a marina. The 2,000-lot development, which attracted Houston buyers, was incorporated on May 12, 1975. By 1978 it had a population of 141, and in 1988 it reached 446 residents but had no businesses. In 1990 the population was 624. The population grew to 1,075 in 2000.