Skip to content

Marlin, Texas

Everything Marlin is known for

2 songs mention this city 1 artist from here

RoadyGoat plays music like this when you drive through Marlin. It's free on iPhone, and full songs play through Apple Music.

Sign up for the free newsletter Get the iPhone app

Music in Marlin

Songs About Marlin

In My Hood
South Park Mexican
95%
"Up in Garza West, smokin on a skinny square"
Marlin 1895
Davin James
2%
"Marlin 1895"

Artists From Marlin

B
Billy Crockett
folk

Rivers & Roads in Song near Marlin

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Marlin.

Brazos River 43 songs Interstate 35 45 songs

Musical Heritage

A Voice From Marlin Now Traveling Between the Stars RoadyGoat

A sound that once rang out on Marlin's streets is now drifting through interstellar space. Blind Willie Johnson was probably born near Brenham, but his family moved to Marlin when he was a small child. Here he learned guitar, performed at churches around Marlin and Hearne, busked on the streets, and sang at the local Church of God in Christ; by his daughter's account he kept living in Marlin into the late 1930s. Between 1927 and 1930 he recorded 30 titles for Columbia Records, and his wordless slide-guitar piece "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" was later chosen for the Voyager Golden Record, launched in 1977 to carry the sounds of Earth into deep space. So a performance rooted in a blind street musician from this town is now riding aboard the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft, well beyond the edge of our solar system. One caution worth honoring: the familiar tale that his stepmother blinded him with lye is not securely documented. The Texas State Historical Association calls it a legend, and the versions disagree. (Source: Texas State Historical Association; NASA Voyager Golden Record.)

RoadyGoat →

History of Marlin

The Settler, Not the Fish RoadyGoat

Marlin, Texas, was named for a person, not an ocean fish. John Marlin came to Mexican Texas in the early eighteen thirties, settled in Robertson's Colony, received a land grant east of the Brazos, and served in local government. He died in eighteen forty seven, before Falls County and its seat took shape. His son-in-law Samuel Blain later laid out town streets and lots, and the community adopted the Marlin name in eighteen fifty one. Sources disagree on pieces of John Marlin's early biography, including claims of Irish origin versus an Alabama birth, so the firm story is his settlement role and the town's decision to honor him.

The Females Become Giants RoadyGoat

Blue marlin have one of the most dramatic size differences between sexes among large game fish. Females can grow several times heavier than males and account for the true giants celebrated in fishing lore. Both hunt fast ocean prey such as tuna relatives, mackerel, squid, and other schooling fish, but a large female can handle larger meals and store energy for producing eggs. This difference also matters for conservation: killing one enormous fish may remove a mature breeding female rather than an unusually old male. Size is not merely a trophy measurement; it can reveal the animal's role in the population.

Hemingway's Marlin RoadyGoat

The giant fish in Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea is a marlin. Santiago's struggle with it made the animal a literary symbol of strength, pride, endurance, and respect between hunter and quarry. The story does not reduce the fish to a prize; the old man admires it even while trying to kill it, and his victory becomes inseparable from loss. That tension helped fix marlin in popular imagination as more than seafood or a trophy. The novel's fish is biologically recognizable, but its greatest migration was cultural, carrying the marlin into classrooms far from any ocean.

Coryell, James

1837

James Coryell, for whom Coryell County was named, was born near West Union, Ohio, in 1803, the son of Lewis and Sarah (Voshall) Coryell. He left home at the age of eighteen and made his way to Texas. He was in San Antonio by 1831, when he joined James and Rezin P. Bowie on an exploring expedition to the San Saba region in search of silver mines. After his return to San Antonio, Coryell went with Andrew Cavitt to Sarahville de Viesca , a settlement near Marlin founded by Sterling C. Robertson , who was empresario of the colony in 1834. Coryell made his home with the Cavitt family. Sarahville was also the site of Fort Milam, which was built to protect the inhabitants in the region. In 1835 Coryell explored the Leon River country with Cavitt and applied for a land grant in what is now Coryell County. In 1836 Robertson became captain of a company of Texas Rangers who were stationed at Fort Milam . During the spring and summer of 1836 Coryell was a private in Robertson's Ranger company, and in the fall he joined Capt. Thomas H. Barron's Ranger militia to protect the 200 settlers living in Sarahville. On May 27, 1837, Coryell and two other Rangers, Ezra Webb and Michael Castleman, were raiding a bee tree a short distance from the fort when they were attacked by Caddo Indians . His companions escaped, but Coryell, who was in poor health and unable to run, was shot and scalped. A party of men from the fort returned to the site of the attack and found Coryell wounded and bloodied, but still alive. He died two days later and was buried nearby. The exact location of the grave was not recorded and was eventually lost. In the late summer of 1837, the Fort Milam Ranger company disbanded and Sarahville was abandoned. In 1853 a landowner named Churchill Jones established a plantation near the site. Jones owned a large number of enslaved workers and provided them with a cemetery, called Bull Hill, about a mile northwest of the old Sarahville settlement. The Jones plantation declined after emancipation, but most of the formerly enslaved families stayed in the area. Jones plantation descendants continued to use Bull Hill to bury their dead until the 1960s, when the cemetery was closed. Many of the grave markers and locations were subsequently lost. In 2006 Churchill Jones III sold the property to the Summerlee Foundation of Dallas. Jones informed foundation president John Crain about Bull Hill, but was unsure of the exact location of the cemetery. Crain asked the Texas Historical Commission (THC) to conduct archaeological investigations and determine the location and boundaries of the burial ground. The THC team contacted former Jones plantation families in Marlin and discovered the oral history of Ned Broadus, a former enslaved worker. Broadus recalled there was a grave off the south line of Bull Hill that was reputed to be that of "Mr. Jim Coryell." He recalled that after the grave caved in, enslaved workers covered the area with stones, so Coryell's spirit would be at ease and not disturb the dead of Bull Hill. In 2010, Crain was monitoring the clearing operations when a concentration of thirty-five large rocks was uncovered. THC archaeologists discovered a grave shaft beneath the stones and exhumation was conducted in February 2011 with the assistance of forensic anthropologists from the Smithsonian Institution. The body was an adult male, 35 to 40 years of age, and 5'5" tall. The skeleton was in very poor condition and the top of the skull was covered with a dark substance. A piece of iron located in the rib cage appeared to be part of an arrow point. Much of the anecdotal information about Coryell's death was confirmed. However, although a mitochondrial DNA sample had been obtained from a female Coryell family descendant, the remains were too degraded to definitively confirm the identity of the body through DNA. In 2019 the Smithsonian scientists re-examined the exhumed remains and discovered that the dark substance on the skull appeared t

Tsha Handbook →

Johnson, "Blind Willie"

1927

"Blind Willie" Johnson, known as the "Sightless Visionary" and bluesman and virtuoso of the "bottleneck" or slide guitar, was born near Brenham, Texas, on January 22, 1897 (according to his death certificate). He was the son of Willie and Mary (Fields) Johnson. The family moved to Marlin when he was a small child. Reportedly his mother died, and his father remarried. According to one legend, young Johnson was blinded when his stepmother threw lye at his father and some of it got in Willie's eyes. Johnson had aspirations to be a preacher. His father made for him a cigar box guitar, and he taught himself to play. He performed at Baptist Association meetings and churches around Marlin and nearby Hearne, Texas. At some point Johnson moved to Dallas. He may have married Willie B. Harris, though no marriage certificate has been found. They had one daughter. Willie B. Harris sang accompaniment with Johnson on some of his recordings for Columbia Records between 1927 and 1930. A second woman, Angeline (listed as Anna in the 1920 census), sister of blues guitarist L. C. "Good Rockin'" Robinson, claimed to have married Johnson in 1927. According to Johnson's daughter, her father lived with the family in Marlin, Texas, until the late 1930s. Eventually he settled in Beaumont. Blind Willie made his professional debut as a gospel artist. It total, he made thirty recordings for Columbia during four sessions. He was known to his followers as a performer "capable of making religious songs sound like the blues" and of endowing his secular songs with "religious feeling." Johnson's unique voice and his original compositions influenced musicians throughout the South, especially Texas bluesmen. He sang in a "rasping false bass," and played bottleneck guitar with "uncanny left handed strength, accuracy and agility." So forceful was his voice that legend has it he was once arrested for inciting a riot simply by standing in front of the New Orleans Customs House singing "If I Had My Way I'd Tear This Building Down," a chant-and-response number that stimulated great audience enthusiasm. Johnson's celebrity career ended with the Great Depression, after which he continued to perform as a street singer but did no further recording. A 1944 Beaumont city directory listed him as operating the House of Prayer in that city. He died in Beaumont on September 18, 1945, and was buried in Blanchette Cemetery in that city. Anna Johnson was listed as his widow in a 1947 Beaumont directory. Johnson left behind a legacy of musical masterpieces, some of which have been rerecorded on Yazoo Records. His work includes such classics as "Nobody's Fault but Mine," "God Don't Never Change," "Mother's Children Have a Hard Time," "Bye and Bye I'm Going to See the King," "God Moves on the Water," "Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed," and "I Know His Blood Can Make Me Whole." His recording "Dark was the Night (Cold was the Ground)" was among the musical selections placed on board Voyager 1 in 1977 as a representative sampling of music on Earth. Johnson's recordings were released by Sony/Legacy in 1993 on a double CD titled Complete Blind Willie Johnson . A Texas Historical Marker honoring Johnson was dedicated at Pilgrim's Rest Baptist Church (the site of Johnson's residence and House of Prayer during the 1940s) on December 15, 2010. Johnson was also recognized as a music legend in the Museum of the Gulf Coast's Music Hall of Fame in Port Arthur. A children's book, Dark was the Night: Blind Willie Johnson's Journey to the Stars , written by Gary Golio and illustrated by E. B. Lewis, was published in 2020.

Tsha Handbook →

McLennan's Bluff

1835

McLennan's Bluff, a steep bank on the northwest shore of Rosebud Lake a mile west of Rosebud near Pond Creek in southwest Falls County (at 31°04' N, 97°00' W), is on land of the original league granted to Neil McLennan by Coahuila and Texas on July 28, 1835. The bluff, on which McLennan's home was located, is 400 feet above the surface of the lake. In 1835 three McLennan brothers, who had immigrated from Scotland to North Carolina and later resided in Florida, brought their families to Texas to join Sterling Clack Robertson 's colony, sailing up the Brazos River from its mouth and eventually stopping at Sugar Loaf on Pond Creek, later called McLennan's Bluff. After receiving grants on Pond Creek and building houses on the bluff that also overlooked rolling prairie land, the families were threatened by Indians, who had posed few problems for settlers in the area during the early 1830s, but who were beginning to increase their attacks on White settlers. In the spring of 1836 Indians raided the Laughlin McLennan household, killing Laughlin, his wife, and his crippled mother, whose head they split with an ax before casting her body into the house and setting everything on fire. Three children were taken into captivity, during which two of them died; the third one, a seven-year-old boy, was adopted by the Indians and the boy rejoined his relatives in 1846. In the spring of 1837 the Indians attacked Neil McLennan, his son John, and his young slave. Neil and his son escaped, but the slave was taken prisoner; however, through the mediation of friendly Indians and by his own efforts, he was released and returned to his master. After living at the site for ten years, the McLennans abandoned their home, and Neil McLennan eventually exchanged his land on Pond Creek for claims on the Bosque River near Waco.

Tsha Handbook → · 4.3 mi away

Hilton Hotel, Early

1900

After Conrad Hilton had initiated career that later made him foremost innkeeper in the world, at first venture in boom town of Cisco brought a dream of Texas "wearing a chain of Hilton Hotels." Reality outran dreams. This was his eighth hotel. Marker dedicated to Conrad N. Hilton (born in 1887), one of the great men of America's southwestern frontier.

Historical Marker →

Hot Mineral Water

1892

A well drilled on this site in 1892, in an effort to secure a public water supply, produced 48,000 gallons of hot mineral water daily from an artesian deposit underlying the area. At first believed unfit for human use, analysis proved the water possessed curative powers. On initiative of T. A. Cheeves, Drs. J. W. Cook, J. W. Torbett,and N. D. Buie, a health resort was developed, with a bath house built in 1895, and another well drilled in 1910. Marlin became a Mecca for health-seekers from all parts of the country, providing basis for local prosperity.

Historical Marker →

Denson, Rev. Nelson T. and Marlin Missionary Baptist Church

1845

Born into slavery in Arkansas, Nelson Taylor Denson (1845-1938) was brought to Falls County in 1856 at the age of eleven. After accompanying his master in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, he returned to Marlin where he was a pioneer educator and Baptist circuit preacher. Educated by his master and inspired by the noted Texas statesman Sam Houston, he became a prominent leader among the area Freedmen. On Nov. 8, 1868, the Rev. Denson started Marlin Missionary Baptist Church, the earliest black congregation in the county. Assisting him in the organization meeting was the pioneer Baptist preacher, the Rev. Z. N. Morrell. Rev. Denson was active in the establishment of several black schools, including one sponsored by the Marlin Missionary Baptist Church in 1877. Through his efforts, the opportunity for a formal education became a reality for area blacks by the mid-1880s. In 1882 the Rev. Denson became the first elected black official in the county when he was chosen commissioner of precinct one. Trusted and respected by all races, he continued to play a significant role in the community until his death at the age of 93. Today the church he founded in 1868 carries on the tradition of his enthusiasm and his service for others.

Historical Marker →

Things to Do in Marlin

historical 0.4 mi away
When the New York Giants Called Marlin Home

From 1908 to 1918 manager John McGraw brought the New York Giants all the way down to tiny Marlin Texas for spring training. It was the first permanent spring…
historical 0.3 mi away
The 147-Degree Gusher That Built a City

In 1892 the folks in Marlin drilled a well hoping for drinking water. What they got was a 75-foot geyser of scalding 147-degree sulfur water shooting out of…
historical 0.3 mi away
When 80000 Pilgrims Sought the Healing Waters

By the 1930s word had spread so far that 80000 visitors a year were pouring into Marlin to soak in the hot mineral springs. Bathhouses lined the downtown…
historical 0.4 mi away
Conrad Hiltons Eighth Hotel and Its Secret Tunnel

In 1929 Conrad Hilton was still building his hotel empire one town at a time. He chose tiny Marlin for his eighth property — an eight-story tower with 110…
historical 0.4 mi away
The Morgan Massacre of 1839

On New Years Day 1839 a band of Anadarko raiders descended on the Morgan cabin near present-day Marlin. Young Isaac Marlin arrived to find his mother and the…
food 22.3 mi away
Magnolia Market at the Silos

Chip and Joanna Gaines' Fixer Upper empire. Shopping food trucks and shiplap everything.
quirky 0.3 mi away
The Only City Crowned by the Texas Legislature for Its Water

In 1999 the Texas Legislature did something it had never done before — it officially crowned Marlin the Hot Mineral Water City of Texas. No other town in the…
quirky 0.3 mi away
The Haunted Hilton That No One Checks Into

The 1929 Falls Hotel rises eight stories above downtown Marlin and every single room is empty. No guests have checked in for decades but visitors swear the…

Everything Near Marlin

296 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

  • The Settler, Not the Fish

    Marlin, Texas, was named for a person, not an ocean fish. John Marlin came to Mexican Texas in the early eighteen thirties, settled in Robertson's Colony, received a land grant east of the Brazos, and served in local…

  • The Females Become Giants

    Blue marlin have one of the most dramatic size differences between sexes among large game fish. Females can grow several times heavier than males and account for the true giants celebrated in fishing lore. Both hunt…

  • Hemingway's Marlin

    The giant fish in Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea is a marlin. Santiago's struggle with it made the animal a literary symbol of strength, pride, endurance, and respect between hunter and quarry. The story…

  • A Fast Fish Caught by Slow Lines

    Marlin conservation is tied to fisheries aimed at other species. Commercial longlines set vast numbers of baited hooks for tuna and swordfish and can catch marlin as bycatch. Scientists use catch records and electronic…

  • A Bill Is Not a Sword

    A marlin and a swordfish both carry long bills, but they are not the same design. Marlin have a more cylindrical, streamlined body and a dorsal fin that can be conspicuous, while swordfish have a flatter, sword-like…

  • Built to Cross an Ocean

    Marlin are open-ocean predators built for sustained fast travel. A tapered body reduces drag, a narrow tail base drives a stiff crescent-shaped tail, and fins can fold close to the body. They follow warm water,…

  • Blue, Black, and Striped

    Blue, black, and striped marlin share the billfish plan but differ in range and form. Blue marlin roam tropical and subtropical Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian waters and include the largest females. Black marlin are an…

  • Stripes That Switch On

    A marlin's color is active, not painted on. Dark blue above and silvery sides create countershading, helping the fish blend with deep water from above and bright surface light from below. Blue or striped patterns can…

  • The Fish That Fights Back

    Marlin became icons of sport fishing because a hooked fish can run hard, leap repeatedly, and fight for a long time. That fame also created pressure on slow-replacing populations. Many tournaments now encourage…

  • Marlin, TX · Local history

    Marlin has been a birthplace for a remarkable array of talent. From the gridiron, we have LaDainian Tomlinson, a celebrated running back for the San Diego Chargers and New York Jets, and Danario Alexander, a wide…

  • Falls County Courthouse · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Falls County Courthouse in Marlin, a building that's seen a lot of history. Falls County itself was created way back in 1850. The very first courthouse? Just a log cabin, maybe right here. Fast…

  • Hilton Hotel, Early · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    After Conrad Hilton had initiated career that later made him foremost innkeeper in the world, at first venture in boom town of Cisco brought a dream of Texas "wearing a chain of Hilton Hotels." Reality outran dreams.…

Show all 200 nearby places
  • The Art Moderne Courthouse of Falls County · 0.1 mi

    At the center of Marlin sits the Falls County Courthouse, a limestone Art Moderne building dating from 1937 to 1939, when streamlined, geometric public architecture was the height of civic ambition. It got a major…

  • Marlin · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Marlin, a Texas town that hit its stride thanks to a bit of natural luck. Back in 1851, it became the county seat, and things started to grow. But the real boom came in 1892 when they discovered…

  • The 1922 Brazos Bridge Collapse · 0.2 mi

    West of Marlin, where the road once crossed the Brazos toward Belton, a crowd gathered on May 16, 1922 to watch repair work while the river ran high at flood stage. By some accounts roughly 1,000 people had come out to…

  • Hot Mineral Water · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    A well drilled on this site in 1892, in an effort to secure a public water supply, produced 48,000 gallons of hot mineral water daily from an artesian deposit underlying the area. At first believed unfit for human use,…

  • Allen House · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Allen House in Marlin, built in 1911 for Dr. Walter and Netti Allen. Check out those massive Ionic columns supporting the giant entablature – a classic Greek Revival look! The family lived here…

  • First Baptist Church of Marlin · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Marlin, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church. Back in 1852, this congregation started with just ten members, meeting in borrowed spaces like the log courthouse and a schoolhouse.…

  • Coryell, James · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    James Coryell, for whom Coryell County was named, was born near West Union, Ohio, in 1803, the son of Lewis and Sarah (Voshall) Coryell. He left home at the age of eighteen and made his way to Texas. He was in San…

  • Johnson, "Blind Willie" · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    "Blind Willie" Johnson, known as the "Sightless Visionary" and bluesman and virtuoso of the "bottleneck" or slide guitar, was born near Brenham, Texas, on January 22, 1897 (according to his death certificate). He was…

  • The 147-Degree Gusher That Built a City · 0.3 mi · Things to Do

    In 1892 the folks in Marlin drilled a well hoping for drinking water. What they got was a 75-foot geyser of scalding 147-degree sulfur water shooting out of…

  • When 80000 Pilgrims Sought the Healing Waters · 0.3 mi · Things to Do

    By the 1930s word had spread so far that 80000 visitors a year were pouring into Marlin to soak in the hot mineral springs. Bathhouses lined the downtown…

  • Falls County · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, and right here, the Brazos River was once a deadly frontier. In early 1839, this area was a hunting ground for various Native American tribes, but tensions were high with settlers.…

  • Slater, Stephen Thomas · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Milam County, maybe not far from Marlin, where Stephen Thomas Slater once brought the Comanche people in to sign a treaty. Arriving in Texas in 1837, Slater served with Captain Jack Hays and…

  • Marlin, TX · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Marlin, Texas, a town with roots stretching back to 1834. It started as Sarahville de Viesca, established by Sterling Clack Robertson. But the real boom came when they discovered something special…

  • The Vanishing Waterfalls That Named a County · 0.3 mi · Things to Do

    Falls County got its name from a set of 10-foot waterfalls on the Brazos River — the only hard-bottom crossing within 200 miles. Native tribes had used them…

  • The Haunted Hilton That No One Checks Into · 0.3 mi · Things to Do

    The 1929 Falls Hotel rises eight stories above downtown Marlin and every single room is empty. No guests have checked in for decades but visitors swear the…

  • The Only City Crowned by the Texas Legislature for Its Water · 0.3 mi · Things to Do

    In 1999 the Texas Legislature did something it had never done before — it officially crowned Marlin the Hot Mineral Water City of Texas. No other town in the…

  • Lang, Willis L. · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Willis L. Lang, planter, Texas Ranger, and Confederate Army officer, the youngest of five children of William A. and Temperance (Thurman) Lang, was born on November 29, 1830, in Wayne County, Mississippi. He and his…

  • Billingsley, Virginia Catherine Shaw · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, not far from Marlin, where V. C. Billingsley took over a family plantation after her husband died in 1882. She wasn't just managing the land; she was a shrewd businesswoman. In 1889,…

  • Doughty, Walter Francis · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, and right here in Marlin, a significant figure in Texas education once served. Walter Francis Doughty, a Mississippi native who arrived in Texas in 1895, rose through the ranks from…

  • Brown, William M. · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving past Marlin, Texas, a town that became home to William M. Brown after the Civil War. Brown served as a Confederate lieutenant, fighting at Gettysburg before being captured. After the war, he came to…

  • Hunnicutt, Walter Scott · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Marlin, Texas, the hometown of Walter Scott Hunnicutt. While he served as a city attorney and later a county judge, and even fought in World War II, Hunnicutt is best remembered for his music.…

  • Scoggins, Lewis Grissom · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, Texas, and right here in Marlin, Lewis Grissom Scoggins lived out his final years. Scoggins, a planter from Louisiana, arrived in Texas sometime before 1863 and joined the Third…

  • Stuart, Elias Charles · 0.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, the heart of Texas politics for Elias Charles Stuart. Born in Mississippi in 1820, Stuart eventually settled here along the Brazos River around 1857. He became a prominent farmer and…

  • First Presbyterian Church of Marlin · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Presbyterian Church of Marlin, but its story starts way back in 1852. Imagine this: services were held in the Falls County Courthouse, with a pulpit that literally got pulled up…

  • A Voice From Marlin Now Traveling Between the Stars · 0.4 mi

    A sound that once rang out on Marlin's streets is now drifting through interstellar space. Blind Willie Johnson was probably born near Brenham, but his family moved to Marlin when he was a small child. Here he learned…

  • When the New York Giants Called Marlin Home · 0.4 mi · Things to Do

    From 1908 to 1918 manager John McGraw brought the New York Giants all the way down to tiny Marlin Texas for spring training. It was the first permanent spring…

  • The Drinking-Water Well That Erupted at 147 Degrees · 0.4 mi

    You're rolling into a town that got rich by accident. In 1892, the city of Marlin was drilling for an ordinary water supply when, at a depth of 3,350 feet, the well struck intensely hot, mineralized water that…

  • When the New York Giants Trained in Marlin · 0.4 mi

    For a stretch of the early 1900s, this small Central Texas town was a Major League laboratory. Beginning in 1904, Marlin hosted all or part of spring training for five big-league clubs, and the New York Giants made it…

  • Conrad Hiltons Eighth Hotel and Its Secret Tunnel · 0.4 mi · Things to Do

    In 1929 Conrad Hilton was still building his hotel empire one town at a time. He chose tiny Marlin for his eighth property — an eight-story tower with 110…

  • The Morgan Massacre of 1839 · 0.4 mi · Things to Do

    On New Years Day 1839 a band of Anadarko raiders descended on the Morgan cabin near present-day Marlin. Young Isaac Marlin arrived to find his mother and the…

  • Conrad Hilton's Spa Hotel and Its Long Decay · 0.4 mi

    The big, brooding building ahead is Marlin's most dramatic reminder of its spa years. Conrad Hilton opened his eighth hotel here in 1929 to serve the mineral-water trade, a 110-room landmark later known as the Falls…

  • The Accidental Geothermal Engineering of Marlin · 0.4 mi

    Marlin's hot well is one of the best place-specific science stories in Central Texas. An artesian well taps groundwater confined under pressure, so when drilling punctures the pressurized formation, water can rise on…

  • Denson, Rev. Nelson T. and Marlin Missionary Baptist Church · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    Born into slavery in Arkansas, Nelson Taylor Denson (1845-1938) was brought to Falls County in 1856 at the age of eleven. After accompanying his master in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, he returned to Marlin…

  • The Ghost Colony of Sarahville de Viesca · 0.4 mi · Things to Do

    In 1834 Sterling Robertson founded a grand colonial settlement at the falls of the Brazos and named it Sarahville de Viesca. It was meant to be the capital of…

  • The Hot Water Pavilion on Coleman Street · 0.4 mi

    On Coleman Street near the Falls Hotel stands the Hot Water Pavilion, built in 1916 at the height of Marlin's spa fever. In its prime it sheltered a continuously flowing mineral-water fountain, benches, and a soda or…

  • The Museum That Came Back After the Storm · 0.4 mi

    At 145 Heritage Row, the Falls County Historical Museum has a survival story of its own. It reopened in December 2024 after sitting closed for nearly four years, shut down when tornado and hail damage compromised its…

  • The Palace Theatre on Heritage Row · 0.4 mi

    At about 133 Heritage Row stands the Palace Theatre, a survivor from the 1920s, the same boom decade that gave Marlin its grand hotels and its hot-water crowds. Over its long life the Palace has worn several hats: movie…

  • Marlin's Decades-Old Juneteenth Tradition · 0.4 mi

    Marlin has marked Juneteenth as a citywide tradition for decades, long before it became a national holiday. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and announced…

  • Fort Milam · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Fort Milam, built way back in 1835. It started as a protection for settlers against hostile Indians. The fort was constructed by a ranging company right here in what was then Sarahville…

  • First United Methodist Church of Marlin · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the First United Methodist Church of Marlin, a place with roots stretching way back. Methodist preachers were serving folks in this area as early as 1842, long before Marlin was even a city! The…

  • Sent Maggie Rogers to China · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the First United Methodist Church of Marlin, a place with roots stretching way back. Missionary preachers were serving Methodists in this area even before Falls County was officially established. The…

  • The Pioneer Who Never Saw His Town · 0.5 mi · Things to Do

    John Marlin packed up his family and headed to Mexican Texas in 1832 with nothing but grit and a plan. He built a frontier fort on the Brazos and held his…

  • Captain Henry Gray Carter · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a house built by Captain Henry Gray Carter, a man who saw action on both the frontier and the battlefield. Born in Vermont, Carter moved to Texas in 1852 and soon after, enlisted in the…

  • Greater Providence Missionary Baptist Church · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Greater Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Marlin. Imagine this: back in 1893, a group of twelve people, led by Reverend N.T. Denson, founded Providence Baptist Church. They started…

  • The Accidental Spa · 0.6 mi

    Imagine the scene in 1892. The city of Marlin is drilling a new well, hoping for fresh drinking water. Instead, at over three thousand feet, they hit a gusher of foul-smelling, scalding hot water. It seemed like a total…

  • The Voice of Marlin, Heard in Deep Space · 0.6 mi

    As you pass through Marlin, picture a man on a street corner, a tin cup tied around his neck, playing a slide guitar with a pocketknife. That man was Blind Willie Johnson, a gospel blues master who lived here for part…

  • The Journey of the Water · 0.6 mi

    The hot water that defined Marlin isn't just hot; it's ancient, and how it reaches you is a fascinating piece of hydro-geology. The story starts with rain falling on Central Texas, seeping deep into the ground and…

  • Marlin, TX · 0.6 mi

    Marlin's signature industry is its hot mineral water, which was discovered in 1892 and is believed to have medicinal properties. The discovery of the hot mineral water led to the construction of bath houses and the…

  • The Man from Marlin Who Shaped the World · 0.6 mi

    The Falls County Courthouse marks the start of a career that reached the whole world. Tom Connally was born on a farm in McLennan County in 1877, took a law degree at the University of Texas in 1898, and practiced law…

  • Falconer Home · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Falconer Home, built way back in 1880. Now, this wasn't always a private residence. For a few years, it was Stafford Military Academy, a school for boys. But financial troubles shut the doors in…

  • Lakeview Drive-In, Serving Marlin Since 1946 · 1.2 mi

    If you want a meal with real Marlin history under it, Lakeview Drive-In at 1008 North Business Highway 6 is the pick. Its roadside sign advertises service to Marlin since 1946, which gives it the genuine character of a…

  • Highlands Mansion · 1.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Highlands Mansion, built around 1898 by B. C. Clark. This elegant home was a real showplace of Texas during the Gay Nineties, right at the turn of the century. Notice the sturdy cypress…

  • Bucksnort · 2.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're passing through the area where Bucksnort once stood. Settled in 1837 by the Marlin and Menefee families, it quickly became Jarett Menefee's Supply Station. By the 1840s, this village was booming with a school,…

  • Falls of the Brazos River · 4.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Falls of the Brazos River, a landmark that shaped early Texas history. Imagine a 10-foot waterfall over a rocky ledge, a crucial meeting point and trail marker for both Native…

  • McLennan's Bluff · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    McLennan's Bluff, a steep bank on the northwest shore of Rosebud Lake a mile west of Rosebud near Pond Creek in southwest Falls County (at 31°04' N, 97°00' W), is on land of the original league granted to Neil…

  • Westphalia, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Westphalia is dissected by State Highway 320 in southwestern Falls County. In the summer of 1879 several immigrants from the Westphalia province in Germany moved from Frelsburg, Texas, into the area. Early settlers…

  • Chandler, Eli · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what is now Falls County, and right here, back in 1839, was the site of 'Bryant's Defeat.' This was a fierce clash between Texas settlers, led by Captain Benjamin Franklin Bryant, and a band of…

  • Pool, Jonathan Cochran · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, Texas, and right here is where Jonathan Cochran Pool made his home. Pool was a veteran of the Texas Revolution, fighting at the Siege of Bexar and taking part in the famous Grass…

  • Alto Springs, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Alto Springs is on Farm Road 2745 thirteen miles east of Marlin in eastern Falls County. The settlement began as a relay point for an early Central Texas stage route and a supply station for area settlers. Local…

  • Durango, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Durango is on Farm Road 935 fifteen miles southwest of Marlin in western Falls County. The site was settled under the name West Falls by members of Robertson's colony , and a post office called West Falls operated there…

  • Stranger, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Stranger, also known as Upper or North Blue Ridge, is north of State Highway 7 and ten miles east of Marlin in eastern Falls County. The area was settled in the late 1840s. The community was linked to the Blue Ridge…

  • Fort Milam · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, near the modern town of Marlin. Right here, in 1834, stood Fort Viesca, built to protect settlers at Sarahville de Viesca. Just a year later, it was renamed Fort Milam, in honor of…

  • Eleven feet high, 150 feet square · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, not far from the town that now bears the name Marlin. But back in 1839, this area was home to a different kind of fortification: Fort Milam, later renamed Fort Burleson. Built in…

  • Bucksnort, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Bucksnort, originally Jarrett Menefee's Supply Station, was located on a 320-acre prairie owned by Thomas J. Chambers in what is now east central Falls County. The settlement, about five miles northeast of the falls on…

  • Marlin, William N. P. · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, and right here is the area where William N. P. Marlin settled, an early Texas pioneer. Back in 1835, he received land title near the falls of the Brazos River, not far from where the…

  • Reagan, William Reason · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, and right here is the town of Reagan. It owes its existence to William Reagan, a lawyer who arrived in Texas in 1849. He settled in Falls County, taught school, and practiced law. In…

  • Ritter, Van Buren · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, Texas, and right here in McClanahan, Van Buren Ritter served in the Texas Legislature. He was a Populist who introduced a bill in 1895 to amend school laws, allowing for the election…

  • Barclay, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Barclay, on State Highway 53 nineteen miles southwest of Marlin in southwestern Falls County, was named for William Anderson Barclay , a pioneer resident of Central Texas who, in partnership with his brother-in-law, W.…

  • Highbank, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Highbank, on Farm Road 413 ten miles south of Marlin and two miles east of the Brazos River in southern Falls County, formed as a farming community in the 1880s. It was presumably named for the nearby bank of the…

  • Mooreville, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Mooreville is on Farm Road 107 four miles northwest of Chilton in northwestern Falls County. It was named for Robert Moore, who opened the first store in the area in the 1850s. In the 1860s Ed McCullough gave land for a…

  • Otto, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Otto is near the intersection of Farm roads 1240 and 2603, eight miles northeast of Perry in northern Falls County. Settlement of the area began in the 1850s and centered around two communities known as Needmore and…

  • Perry, TX (Falls County) · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Perry is on State Highway 6 eight miles north of Marlin in northern Falls County. Settlement of the area began as early as 1852, but no townsite was laid out until 1872, when the Waco and Northwestern division of the…

  • Reagan, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Reagan is at the intersection of State Highway 6 and Farm Road 413, nine miles southeast of Marlin in southeastern Falls County. It was established in 1873, shortly after the Waco and Northwestern Railroad completed the…

  • Satin, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Satin is on Farm Road 434 four miles from Chilton in northern Falls County. In 1834 Fielden Ruble settled in the locality at the Rocky Dam crossing on the Brazos River. The town was established in 1872 when J. H.…

  • Travis, TX (Falls County) · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Travis, on U.S. Highway 77 five miles southeast of Lott in southwestern Falls County, was named for Travis Fleming Jones, who surveyed the site for the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway in the 1880s. When the…

  • Site of the Home of George Morgan · 4.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Perry, Texas, near the site of a brutal frontier tragedy. Just 400 yards northeast of here, the home of George Morgan stood. But on the night of January 1st, 1839, tragedy struck. Indians attacked…

  • Sarahville de Viesca, Site of Colonial Capital · 4.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Sarahville de Viesca, the capital of Sterling C. Robertson's vast colony. Founded in 1834 near the Brazos River's falls, this was the place where settlers came to claim their land titles.…

  • Falls County · 4.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Falls County, named for the very falls on the Brazos River that cut through its heart. White settlers were here even before the Texas Revolution, but they fled when Santa Anna was on the march in…

  • Harrison, General Thomas · 5.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Reagan area, home to General Thomas Harrison. He was one of only three Texas brothers to reach general rank in the Confederate Army. Before the Civil War, Harrison fought in the Mexican War and…

  • St. Paul United Church of Christ · 5.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of St. Paul United Church of Christ in Marlin. German settlers founded this congregation back in 1894 as the St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Congregation. They built a school just two years…

  • Site of the Home of John Marlin · 5.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the John Marlin home, built way back in 1835. Just four years later, on January 10th, 1839, this place became a fortress. About seventy Native Americans attacked, but the four defenders…

  • Site of St. Paul School · 5.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Falls County, not far from Marlin, where German immigrants settled this land. Back in 1896, they founded St. Paul School, starting with a simple schoolhouse near their church. By 1906, they'd…

  • Old Settlers and Veterans Association of Falls County · 5.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the grounds of the Old Settlers and Veterans Association in Lott. It started way back in 1908 as the Old Settlers Association of Falls County. A year later, they joined forces with a Confederate…

  • Bull Hill Cemetery · 5.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Bull Hill Cemetery, a graveyard that holds over a century of African American history in Falls County. It began as a burial ground for enslaved people on the Churchill Jones plantation, which was…

  • Indian Battlefield · 6.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a fierce battle that happened January 16, 1839. This skirmish took place near the pioneer home of George Morgan. Settlers in the area clashed with warriors led by Chief Jose Maria. The…

  • Perry, Albert G. (Judge) and Harriet Elizabeth Grimes · 6.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Falls County, passing the site of a life shaped by the Texas frontier. Albert G. Perry, born in Tennessee in 1807, studied law young and headed to Texas in 1831. He married Harriet Elizabeth…

  • Powell-Tull Cemetery · 7.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Powell-Tull Cemetery. John Powell was the first person buried here in 1889, leading his family to set aside this land for burials. It became the final resting place for several local families,…

  • Morgan Family Cemetery · 8.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Perry, Texas. To your right is the Morgan Family Cemetery, established around 1868. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2003.

  • Cedar Grove Baptist Church · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Cedar Grove Baptist Church, a story of faith and resilience born right after emancipation. In 1865, newly freed African Americans gathered on Colonel Ruben Buhl's plantation to form their…

  • Cedar Springs Cemetery · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Cedar Springs Cemetery, a quiet reminder of rural Falls County settlement. The earliest marked burial here is Thomas Roberts, who died in 1874, though at least twenty burials happened before the land…

  • Perry United Methodist Church · 8.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Perry United Methodist Church, a century-old congregation with roots reaching back to 1872. It started west of here, in the home of Theodore Reusse, with just four members and a traveling…

  • The Aggie Barn · 9.1 mi · Magazine Article

    You're rolling past one of the most photographed barns in Texas. Out here in Reagan, on Highway 6 between Waco and College Station, sits a wooden building painted maroon and white with the words Gig 'em Aggies sprawled…

  • Blue Ridge Baptist Church · 9.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Reagan, but this church has been a cornerstone of the community for over 160 years. Blue Ridge Baptist Church was organized back in 1859 by just eleven charter members. Early missionaries like…

  • The Town Named for Davy Crockett's Ghostwriter's Son · 9.7 mi

    The town of Chilton is named for a storekeeper, but the storekeeper's father helped write one of the most famous books about the American frontier. Lysias B. Chilton opened a store near here in eighteen seventy-six, and…

  • Mistaken for a Bear · 9.7 mi

    Chilton's first settlers came from Missouri. Five families arrived in eighteen fifty four, onto prairie and creek bottoms where, by one old newspaper account, deer, wolves and even bears still roamed. An early settler,…

  • They Drilled for Oil and Hit Hot Water · 9.7 mi

    In April nineteen twenty two, Falls County's first oil well came in on Deer Creek, southeast of Chilton. In nineteen twenty four, during another search for oil around Chilton, the drill brought up something else: hot…

  • Chilton, TX · 9.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Chilton, Texas, a town with a pretty unusual start. It all began in 1876 when Lysias B. Chilton opened a store. But the town wasn't officially named Chilton until 1888, when the San Antonio and…

  • Thirty-Four Years Between Titles · 9.7 mi

    Chilton is a small town, but its Pirates have climbed to the top of Texas high school football twice, thirty-four years apart. The first state title came in nineteen seventy-two. Then came the long wait. In the fall of…

  • Nineteen Dollars and Half a Bushel of Peaches · 9.7 mi

    Over the Fourth of July weekend in nineteen thirty-one, somebody pulled off a safecracking in Chilton. The burglars pried open a window at the William Cameron and Company store and blew the safe open with a powder…

  • Uncle Billy's Revolutionary Rifle · 9.7 mi

    One of Chilton's early settlers arrived carrying a piece of the American Revolution. Billy Nelson, known around here as Uncle Billy, came from Blount County, Alabama, with a rifle his grandfather, also named Billy…

  • Pool, Jonathan Cochran · 9.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the final resting place of Jonathan Cochran Pool. Born in Georgia in 1806, he moved to Texas with his family when he was just nine years old. Pool answered the call to defend Texas, enlisting in the…

  • Hope Cemetery · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hope Cemetery, a place that started as a promise in 1873. Falls County Judge W.R. Reagan donated 10 acres to Hope Baptist Church, envisioning it as a place for worship, education, and rest. The first…

  • Chilton, TX · 10.0 mi

    Chilton is nestled in the western part of Falls County, Texas. The community is strategically positioned with U.S. Route 77 marking its western edge, offering a direct route 20 miles north to Waco or 16 miles south to…

  • Trinity Lutheran Church · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Riesel, and right here is the story of Trinity Lutheran Church. It all started back in 1882 when a traveling missionary held the first Lutheran service for German immigrants in this area. By 1883,…

  • Stranger Community, Cemetery and Churches · 10.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Falls County, and right around here, you're passing the site of the old Stranger community. It started out as Blue Ridge way back before 1850. Thomas McKissick Garrett donated land for a school,…

  • First Presbyterian Church of Lott · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lott, a town that sprang up with the railroad back in 1890. Just two years later, in 1892, this Presbyterian church was established. Their first sanctuary, built that same year, was wiped out by a…

  • Sacred Heart Catholic Church · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Lott's first Catholic church, Sacred Heart. Back in the early 1900s, a priest named Father Pfiffner would travel from Marlin once a month to hold Mass for just seven local German Catholic…

  • United Methodist Church of Lott · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the United Methodist Church of Lott, a congregation that started way back in January of 1890. That’s the same year this town was officially incorporated! Early services were held in the Masonic…

  • The Town That Voted Out Its Police · 10.6 mi

    In two thousand twenty two, Lott voted its own police department out of existence. By then the department was a chief and one officer. A budget sheet put before the council said it brought in about twenty four thousand…

  • Lott, Uriah · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, heading towards the town of Lott. You might wonder how this place got its name. It's named for Uriah Lott, a determined railroad promoter who dreamed of connecting South Texas. Lott…

  • Lott · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lott, Texas, a town that owes its very existence to the railroad. Back in 1889, the San Antonio and Arkansas Pass Railroad needed a stop between Cameron and Waco. The Texas Townsite Company bought…

  • Cedar Springs, TX (Falls County) · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, and right here is the story of Cedar Springs, or as it was known for a bit, Viesca. It started as Mill Tract, named for the springs and cedar grove nearby. In 1879, a post office…

  • Kirkpatrick, Alice Glass · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Central Texas, near Lott, the birthplace of Alice Glass Kirkpatrick. She wasn't just any Texan; she was a close confidante and political supporter of Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1937, Alice encouraged…

  • Shields, Benjamin Glover · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, Texas, near the town of Lott, where Benjamin Glover Shields, a man who'd already served in Congress and as a diplomat, settled in 1851. Shields arrived with a strong conviction:…

  • Lott, TX (Falls County) · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Lott, Texas, a town born from the rails. In 1890, the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway pushed through this area, and with it, Lott was founded. It was named for Uriah Lott, the very president…

  • Rupee, TX · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, not far from Lott. Right here, you might have passed through the community once known as Rupee. It started in the early 1870s as Live Oak, named for the trees where the first Baptist…

  • Sank Majors Lynching · 11.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Right here, south of Waco, near Golinda, is where a brutal chapter of Texas history unfolded in the summer of 1905. Sank Majors, a young Black man, was accused of assaulting and stabbing a white woman. The community…

  • Golinda, TX · 11.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Golinda, a community named after a priest, Ignacio Galindo, who received a land grant way back in 1833. Early settlers chose this spot on high ground, avoiding the malaria-prone Brazos River…

  • Site of North Prairie School · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the former site of North Prairie School, a community born out of a petition back in 1896. Imagine this place buzzing with life! By 1910, a two-room schoolhouse was already teaching about twenty…

  • Riesel · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Riesel, a town that grew up around cotton. After the Civil War, this fertile land and good water drew farmers, especially cotton growers. German settlers arrived soon after, led by Reverend…

  • Friedens Evangelical and Reformed United Church of Christ · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    German immigrants settled Riesel in the late 1800s. In July 1903, eight families founded Friedens Church, meeting in a schoolhouse before building their own sanctuary. The church building was moved to its current site…

  • Riesel, TX · 11.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Riesel, Texas, a community with roots stretching back to the late 1800s. Right here, the Houston and Texas Central Railway laid down a sectionhouse called Roddy around 1880. Soon after, German…

  • A City Divided · 12.0 mi

    Here's a fascinating fact about Golinda: it's a city with a split personality. The town is physically sliced in two by the border between McLennan County and Falls County. This isn't just a line on a map; it has…

  • Governing Golinda: The Engineering of a Two-County City · 12.0 mi

    Take a look at a map of Golinda and you will see a line slicing it in half. That is not just a political boundary, it is the border between McLennan and Falls Counties, and it makes running this little city a genuine…

  • Golinda, TX · 12.0 mi

    Golinda, Texas, has a history marked by a tragic event. In 1905, Sank Majors, a Black man from Golinda, was lynched by a white mob in Waco. This dark chapter in the city's past is a stark reminder of the racial tensions…

  • The Shadow of the Broomstick Killer · 12.3 mi

    The quiet country roads around Lott hold a dark secret. This area is connected to the story of one of Texas's most infamous serial killers, Kenneth McDuff — and he wasn't a stranger passing through. He was raised in…

  • The Railroad's Calculated Design · 12.3 mi

    The town of Lott is a fascinating piece of 19th-century industrial engineering. When the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway decided to build here, it wasn't a random choice. It was a calculation. Their surveyors and…

  • Lott, TX · 12.3 mi

    Lott was named in honor of Uriah Lott, who was the president of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway when the city was founded in 1890.

  • Friedens Cemetery · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Friedens Cemetery, established in 1903 by eight local families who also formed a German Lutheran Church. Although the church moved in 1908, this burial ground, donated by Philip Engelke,…

  • Criswell Cemetery · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the old Criswell Cemetery, a burial ground that's been here since at least 1873. The earliest marked graves belong to C.M. Criswell and Thomas Durham. An association formed in 1950 still maintains…

  • Silvia King · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Reagan, in Falls County, where the incredible story of Silvia King is remembered. Born in Morocco around 1803, she was kidnapped, enslaved, and forced on the brutal Middle Passage to New Orleans.…

  • Long Branch Cemetery · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Long Branch Cemetery, a place that tells the story of an entire African-American community founded after the Civil War. Established by former slaves connected to the Long Branch Methodist Church,…

  • Phillips Cemetery · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Phillips Cemetery. Ezekial Thomas Phillips (1830-1905), a Civil War veteran, moved his family to Falls County in 1869. His son Robert M. Phillips (b. 1857) died in a shooting accident on March 18,…

  • Odds Community · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Limestone County, near the old Odds Community. Settled around 1854 by the David Barron family, this place was first called Buffalo Mott. But when the post office opened in 1899, the name had to…

  • Powers Chapel · 13.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Powers Chapel, a Methodist church with roots stretching back to before 1850. Reverend Joseph Sneed, a traveling preacher, organized the first congregation. They built a log church here in…

  • A Sign in Rosebud for Corporal Warford · 13.2 mi

    Part of US Highway Seventy Seven carries the name of Army Corporal William T. Warford the Third. He was from Temple, and he served with the two hundred fifteenth Brigade Support Battalion of the First Cavalry Division,…

  • James Bayliss Buck Farmstead · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the James Bayliss Buck Farmstead, a well-preserved example of early farming settlement in this area. Buck purchased the land in 1904 and, with his brother-in-law, completed the farmhouse and…

  • The Day the Sky Fell on Riesel · 13.7 mi

    As you roll through Riesel, southeast of Waco on Highway 6, picture all of Central Texas looking up one Sunday morning, February fifteenth, two thousand nine, a little after eleven o'clock. A fireball streaked across…

  • Riesel, TX · 13.7 mi

    Riesel, Texas, is named after W.H. Riesel, one of the original settlers who built a cotton gin in the area. Before being named Riesel, the town was formerly known as Roddy and then Prospect.

  • Bassett House · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Bassett House, built in 1875 by Henry Caleb Bassett. He was a Connecticut native who moved to Texas and settled near Kosse. This two-story brick house, one of Limestone County's…

  • Live Oak Cemetery · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the old Live Oak community, a place that began shortly after the Civil War. Originally known as Camden, then Rupee, it had stores, a cotton gin, and even a Masonic lodge. The earliest…

  • Union Cemetery · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Falls County, passing Union Cemetery. Donated by the Jackson family, this burial ground was named to serve all the surrounding communities. The first recorded burial here was little Mary Braswell…

  • Cottonwood Baptist Church · 14.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Cottonwood Baptist Church, a testament to faith and community for over a century. <break time="400ms"/> This congregation began in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1884</say-as>…

  • Meier Settlement Methodist Church · 14.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Meier Settlement Methodist Church, founded in 1887 by German immigrants. For over thirty years, this congregation held all its services in German, only switching to English in 1922.…

  • Mooreville Cemetery · 14.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Mooreville, Texas, a community founded by an Irishman named Robert Moore in the 1850s. He opened a general store right here, and soon other families joined him. By 1865, Confederate veteran Edward…

  • Downsville Baptist Church · 14.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Downsville Baptist Church, organized way back on May 6, 1894. Elder A.J. Moore and nineteen members from the Robinson Baptist Church started this congregation. By the end of that year, 39…

  • Fletcher Cemetery · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Fletcher Cemetery, a final resting place that started with a single, unmarked burial. Sample Carrigan, an early settler, was laid to rest here in 1868. The first *marked* grave belongs to…

  • Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church · 15.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Waco, and right here is the site of Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church. Organized back in October of 1886, this congregation served the African-American community southeast of town. They…

  • Hwy 77 Cafe · 15.3 mi · Things to Do

    A small-town local favorite on US Highway 77 in Rosebud, about 36 miles south of Waco. Texas country cooking — chicken fried steak, pork chops, liver and…

  • Wootan Wells · 15.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Wootan Wells, a famous health spa and resort that once drew socialites from miles around. The first well was dug way back in 1878 by Francis Wootan. Now, the water tasted good, but it…

  • A hero of San Jacinto William F. Williams · 15.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Reagan, Texas, home of William F. Williams. This Kentuckian met Sam Houston back in Tennessee and followed him all the way to Texas to fight for independence. He was there at the Battle of San…

  • Moving a Town for the Train · 15.5 mi

    As you see the railroad tracks that cut through Rosebud, consider this: those tracks pulled an entire town off a creek bank and out onto the open prairie. The original settlement here was called Pool's Crossing, or…

  • The Hometown of LT · 15.5 mi

    In the world of Texas football, some towns are legendary. And while LaDainian Tomlinson made his high school name in Waco, his story begins right here in Rosebud, where he was born in 1979. For a small community like…

  • The Iron Horse Defines the Town · 15.5 mi

    The railroad tracks you see in Rosebud are a monument to nineteenth-century engineering and economics both. Laying a line like the San Antonio and Aransas Pass was a serious undertaking. Surveyors had to plot a route…

  • Rosebud, TX · 15.5 mi

    In the heart of Rosebud stands a towering symbol of the city's spirit - the 170-foot-tall 'Rosebud Christmas tree'. Erected in the early 1960s by Bell Falls Milam Electric Co-op at 128 W. Main St, this artificial tree…

  • Mustang Prairie · 15.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Mustang Prairie, a place that started with a handful of settlers way back in 1834. But things really picked up after the Civil War, especially when the railroad arrived in 1870. Folks from Alabama,…

  • Gunter Cemetery · 15.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Gunter Cemetery, a chronicle of Limestone County pioneers. William 'Billie' Gunter arrived here after the Civil War and, with his wife Laura, raised thirteen children. Their infant son, Evan, was…

  • Kosse Tabernacle · 15.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're passing the site of the Kosse Tabernacle, built in 1912 after a big revival meeting. This frame building wasn't just for church services; it became the heart of Kosse. Imagine students attending classes here…

  • Sixteen, Passing Through · 15.9 mi

    In January eighteen seventy, a sixteen-year-old named John Wesley Hardin rode through Kosse on his way to Brenham, and by his own account, he left a dead man behind. Hardin would become one of the most notorious gunmen…

  • Steele, Alfonso · 15.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Limestone County, and right here is the area where Alfonso Steele spent his final years. Steele was the last survivor of the Battle of San Jacinto, the fight that won Texas its independence. He…

  • In Her Own Words: Silvia King · 15.9 mi

    In a cemetery a few miles southwest of Kosse lies a woman named Silvia King, and in nineteen thirty seven, she told her own story to a writer from the federal government. She didn't know her age. The writer guessed she…

  • He Read the Warrants Out Loud · 15.9 mi

    On October twenty-sixth, eighteen eighty five, a young Limestone County deputy did everything by the book, and it cost him his life. Deputy Sheriff Levi Drinkard was twenty-seven. He rode out with a posse to arrest…

  • Foster, William Henry · 15.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Limestone County, near the small town of Kosse. Right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1922</say-as>, geologist William Henry Foster experienced one of the strangest events in Texas…

  • The Weekend the South Moved Its Rails · 15.9 mi

    Kosse is named for Theodore Kosse, the railroad engineer who surveyed the line through here, so here's a railroad story on a scale he would have appreciated. In eighteen eighty six, most railroads in the American South…

  • The Day of Two Noons · 15.9 mi

    Kosse was built by a railroad, and railroads are the reason your clock reads the way it does. In the early eighteen eighties, North America had more than a hundred forty local times, and different railroads ran their…

  • The Revival That Ran Out of Horse Feed · 15.9 mi

    In Kosse there's an old tabernacle, built for revival meetings. Revivals like that have deep roots, and one of the biggest on the American frontier happened at Cane Ridge, Kentucky. From August seventh to the twelfth,…

  • Kosse, TX · 15.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through southwestern Limestone County, right past the community of Kosse. It all really started in 1869 when the Houston and Texas Central Railway finally reached this spot. The town was named for…

  • Two Lawmen From One Small Town · 15.9 mi

    Kosse is a small town, but it produced two men who rose to the top of American law. Walter Angus Keeling was born in Kosse in eighteen seventy three. He was Limestone County attorney, then county judge, then attorney…

  • Before A. Harris of Dallas, a Store at Eutaw · 15.9 mi

    Two miles from Kosse stood Eutaw, once the most important town in southern Limestone County. It had stores, churches, a tavern, a blacksmith shop, a stage depot, and a school. And it had the first store of a young…

  • 2016 UIL 2A Division 2 Football State Champions · 16.0 mi

    Bremond High School (Bremond, TX): Most recent: 49-28 over Iraan · 2016 2A Division 2 final.

  • Bartula, Joseph and Catherine · 16.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Bremond, Texas, and right here is the story of the first Polish settlers in Robertson County. Joseph and Catherine Bartula arrived from Poland in 1873, facing hardships to build a new life. By 1875,…

  • Old Harrison · 16.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Old Harrison, a town that sprung up thanks to a railroad and a Confederate general. General James E. Harrison, a relative of a US President and friend to Jefferson Davis, was a major…

  • Haley, Charles Q. · 16.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a soldier in the Texas War for Independence! Charles Q. Haley fought in the Texas Revolution between 1835 and 1836. He was a volunteer, answering the call to defend Texas's future.…

  • Tehuacana Creek · 16.1 mi

    On a small branch of Tehuacana Creek, about eight miles south of the old Waco village, stood Torrey's Trading Post Number Two, and in the 1840s it hosted the grandest Indian council the Republic of Texas ever held.…

  • Torrey's Trading Post No. 2 · 16.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving near the site of the greatest Indian council ever held in the Republic of Texas! Right here, President Sam Houston himself came in 1844 for famous peace talks with assembled chiefs. This place, Torrey's…

  • St. Mary's Catholic Church · 16.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Bremond, Texas, home to St. Mary's Catholic Church. Founded in 1876, this church was built to serve the Polish immigrants who were settling in this area. The first church was constructed in 1879,…

  • Love High School · 16.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the former Love High School, originally Bremond Colored High School, founded way back in 1920. For decades, this school served the African American community, focusing on vocational and…

  • Hallsburg, TX · 16.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through McLennan County, heading east-southeast of Waco. Right here is Hallsburg, a town born from a doctor's land purchase. Back in the 1880s, Dr. W.E. Hall bought over two thousand acres and started…

  • Brown Family Cemetery · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Brown Family Cemetery, a final resting place for a family that shaped Texas history. Ervin and Matilda Brown settled here in 1857, but their son, Thomas Jefferson Brown, served as a Confederate…

  • Grace United Methodist Church · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Bremond, and right here is the site of Grace United Methodist Church. This congregation started way back in 1868, as the Bremond Methodist Episcopal Church, South, with Reverend John R. White…

  • First Baptist Church of Bremond · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Bremond, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church. Local stories say it started way back in 1865, but the first official record puts a Bremond Baptist Church in existence by 1869.…

  • The Night the Owl Left the Rails at Hammond · 16.3 mi

    In the dark early hours of January fourteenth, nineteen eighteen, the Houston and Texas Central's northbound train number seventeen came through Hammond, six miles south of Bremond, and seventeen people never made it…

  • How a Railroad Stop Became the Polish Capital of Texas · 16.3 mi

    The town around you wears a nickname earned by the people who broke its soil: the Polish Capital of Texas. After the railroad arrived in 1870, a leading citizen named J. C. Roberts began bringing Polish immigrants onto…

  • The First Polish Families and the Names That Stuck · 16.3 mi

    If you want to know who actually started Bremond's Polish colony, start with Joseph and Catherine Bartula. The family emigrated from Brzostek in 1873 and, after a punishing voyage that cost them two young sons, reached…

  • Tiger Stadium: Where a Tiny Town Won Five State Titles · 16.3 mi

    For a town that fields a high school of fewer than 200 kids, Bremond plays football like a heavyweight. From the bleachers at Tiger Stadium you're looking at the home turf of one of the most decorated small-school…

  • Bremond, TX · 16.3 mi

    Bremond's history is marked by pivotal moments that shaped its identity. The town was named after Paul Bremond, an entrepreneur who founded the Houston, East and West Texas Railroad in 1875. His land later became the…

  • The Footprint in the Ashes · 16.3 mi

    In August eighteen seventy six, a man named James Monroe was found dying in his house about three miles from Bremond, and the case against his killer came down to a footprint. Neighbors found bare footprints in the…

  • St. Mary's: The Stone Church the Poles Built Twice · 16.3 mi

    The Gothic stone church rising over North Main Street is the spiritual anchor of Polish Bremond, and the parish actually built it twice. When Joseph Bartula's family arrived in 1875 there was no Catholic church here at…

Explore Marlin on the Map
All music from Texas → Find another town Vote on city songs

Sign up for the free newsletter

Longer stories, research notes, photos, videos, and where the road goes next. Free, and no iPhone needed.

Subscribe free