Falls County

Duane's take

Now, I'm gonna tell this one the way the official marker tells it, so you know you're gettin' the straight story. Falls County. Created January 28, 1850, carved right out of Limestone and Milam counties, and organized that same year on August 5th.

Named for the falls on the Brazos River, which flow through the very center of the county. Picture that. The river didn't just pass through.

It ran right down the middle of the whole operation. Now, white colonization in this area goes back before the Texas Revolution. People had already put down roots, built something out of the land.

But then came the news of Santa Anna's assault in 1836, and those colonists fled. Can't say you blame them. When word like that travels, you move your feet first and ask questions later.

But here's the thing about people who are meant to be somewhere. They come back. A man named John Marlin, for whom the county seat was named, returned and settled near what is now that present city.

He came back to the land after the storm had passed, and that decision left his name on a place forever. Growth came steady after that. Steady is its own kind of relentless, if you think about it.

And by 1870, the first railroad reached the county. Farming, manufacturing, and dairying took hold and made Falls County a place of real production. But maybe the most surprising thing this county has going for it is the water.

Curative artesian water, they call it, and it gives the city of Marlin its recognition as a health spa. So you've got a county born from revolution and return, built by steady hands, and watered by something the earth just offers up on its own. Falls County.

The river runs through the center of it, and always has.

What the marker says

Created Jan. 28, 1850, from Limestone and Milam counties. Organized Aug. 5, 1850. Named for falls on the Brazos River which flow through the center of the county. White colonization in the area pre-dates the Texas Revolution, but colonists fled on news of Santa Anna's assault, 1836. John Marlin, for whom county seat was named, returned and settled near present city. Growth was steady and the first railroad reached the county in 1870. A center for farming, manufacturing and dairying. Curative artesian water gives Marlin recognition as a health spa.