# @galvestonisland on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DV7AsXnCRhQ
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/60016417-galvestonisland-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/a03ef789f1.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-03-15T22:35:13.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Galveston Island (@galvestonisland) — https://gondola.cc/galvestonisland

## Caption

The sun sets on another #StormSurvivorSunday feature at the graceful—yet elusive—1899 Baden-Sproule House. Why elusive, you ask?

All historic Galveston homes have their own secrets, many that will never be solved. But the mystery of Ida Baden and her beautiful home “way outside of town” might just be one of the best.

Designed by famed architect Nicholas J. Clayton, the home was completed just before the Great Storm of 1900. Contrary to the standards of the time, a 35-year-old woman named Ida B. Baden paid cash for the beautiful property and was proudly listed on the deed as femme sole.

So what is the mystery?

Except for other properties she owned throughout the island city, Ida cannot be tracked in city directories, newspapers, or the other comings and goings of the time—until 1906, when Miss Ida Baden’s obituary surreptitiously and surprisingly blows her cover by mentioning her orthonym: Jessie Anderson.

Jessie Anderson owned a female boarding house on Postoffice in the late 1800s that had been sold to her by Sadie McClellan. Although we may never know the exact happenings of this boarding house, Miss Jessie received significant fines over the years for operating a “disorderly house.”

Just as her elusiveness kept the details of the boarding house off the books, we may never know the true identity of Ida B. Baden—or should we say, Miss Jessie Anderson?

## Stats

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## Tags

stormsurvivorsunday

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