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MARBLE
FALLS, TEXAS
Burnet County,
Texas Hill Country
US 281 and FM 1431
On the Colorado River
13 miles SE of Burnet
46 miles NW of Austin
50 miles W of Round
Rock
83 miles N of San Antonio
Population
5,681
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A view from the bluff
Photo by John Troesser, August 2001 |
History
on a Pecan Shell
The falls for which the town was named were called "great falls" or
the "marble falls" as early as 1817.
A man ahead of his time was Colonel Charles J. Todd. In 1851 he bought
a good portion of the land along the river for $80. In 1854 "Todd's
village" was to be a thriving community in a beautiful place, but
few people saw Todd’s vision. The land went unsold for want of buyers
and the county auctioned the land for taxes in 1880.
Adam Johnson also saw the falls in 1854 and wanted to build an industrial
showplace, channeling the waters of the Colorado into a riverside
plant. Johnson enlisted in the Confederate army during the Civil War
and was blinded for life, but not before becoming a General. In 1886
the now blind Johnson bought a good deal of land – including the all-important
falls. The Texas Mining and Improvement Company was chartered in June
1887 and Johnson and nine investors put the first lots up for sale
in July of 1887. |
A timeline
of significant events in the history of Marble Falls
1871: the legislature
authorizes the building of a dam near Marble Falls but it fails to
materialize
1881: State Capitol in Austin burns – a replacement is planed and
granite is the preferred building material
1885: Adam Johnson grants right-of-way across 7 miles of his property
– letting a railroad spur be built from Burnet. The quarry donates
the stone for free and the spur allows it to be hauled to Austin.
1887: The town’s first newspaper The Nutshell is published
1889: The Austin and NW Railroad builds extension to Marble Falls
from Granite Mountain
1890: the community had a weekly newspaper and an estimated 400 to
600 residents.
1892: Marble Falls Alliance University was chartered
1895: a huge building is built, but funding runs out when the time
comes to buy machinery
1907: First city officials are elected
1908: Independent School District is formed
1917: Birdie Crosby Harwood is elected as the first woman mayor in
the United States
1920s: Paved roads and electric lights came in then 1920s.
1925: a dam was built to supply power to the Marble Falls Textile
Mills Company – Johnson’s company.
1940: the population was just over 1,000.
1950s: A dam forms Lake Marble Falls, but destroys the natural falls.
Marble
Falls Hotels
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A
granite outcropping with cactus
Photo by John Troesser, August 01 |
Marble Falls
Attractions
Granite
Mountain – RM 1431 on the road to Burnett just North of town.
From a roadside park (with the nicest picnic tables in the world)
you can observe the quarrying of the same pink granite that was
used in the construction of the state capitol building.
Lake LBJ:
(formerly Granite Shoals Lake) 6,375 acres of water with high bluffs
and granite outcroppings
Lake
Marble Falls
Dead
Man's Hole
("Texas
Tales'' Column by Mike Cox)
The expression "he just dropped out of sight" had both figurative
and literal meaning in Burnet County during and after the Civil
War. Common belief held that folks who disappeared in that area
often ended up at the bottom of a 150-plus-deep foot limestone fissure
south of Marble Falls aptly named "Dead Man's Hole."
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A roadside park near Marble Falls
Photo by John Troesser, August 01 |
Marble Falls
Tourist Information
Marble
Falls/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce
916 Second Street • Marble Falls, TX 78654
830-693-2815 • f: 830-693-1620
http://www.marblefalls.org/
Visitor
Center
801 Highway 281 Marble Falls, Texas 78654
SE corner of the Historic 1893 Depot Building at 801 Hwy 281
1 block SE of the US Hwy 281/FM 1431 intersection.
(800) 759-8178
Local: (830) 693-4449
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Marble
Falls Texas Forum
Subject:
Bluebonnets
Even though we are currently out here in St. Lewis, Washington,
our hearts are still at home in Kempner. Just remembering the field
of bluebonnets surrounding the little rock house north of Marble
Falls. - JL Truitt, August 21, 2004
Anyone wishing to share photos or history of Marble Falls, Texas,
please contact
us.
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© John Troesser
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