Marble Falls, Texas
Encyclopedia
Burnet County, Texas
Burnet County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2000, the population was 34,147. The 2008 Census Bureau Estimate was 44,488. Its county seat is Burnet. Burnet is named for David Gouverneur Burnet, the first president of the Republic of Texas...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 4,959 at the 2000 census.
Marble Falls is about 45 miles (72.4 km) northwest of Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
and 85 miles (136.8 km) north of San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
. Lake Marble Falls
Lake Marble Falls
Lake Marble Falls is a reservoir on the Colorado River in the Texas Hill Country in the United States. The reservoir was formed in 1951 by the construction of Max Starcke Dam by the Lower Colorado River Authority. Originally named Marble Falls Dam, the dam was renamed in 1962 for Max Starcke, the...
is part of the Highland Lakes
Texas Highland Lakes
The Texas Highland Lakes is a chain of seven reservoirs in Central Texas formed by several dams on the Colorado River. This portion of the river winds southeast from its headwaters near the border of Texas and New Mexico to Matagorda Bay and the Gulf of Mexico...
, the largest chain of lakes in Texas.
Due to its location in the middle of the Texas Hill Country
Texas Hill Country
The Texas Hill Country is a vernacular term applied to a region of Central Texas featuring tall rugged hills consisting of thin layers of soil atop limestone or granite. It also includes the Llano Uplift and the second largest granite monadnock in the United States, Enchanted Rock, which is located...
and the Highland Lakes, Marble Falls is a popular vacation destination for watersports enthusiasts, boaters, fishermen, campers, and hunters. Marble Falls also hosts one of the largest drag boat races in the United States each August.
Marble Falls, as of December 1, 2009, is the anchor of the Marble Falls, TX Micropolitan Statistical Area. The census bureau has defined this area as including all of Burnet County and has a total population of 42,896. This Micropolitan area, due to close ties to nearby Austin
Austin
Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas.Austin may also refer to:-In the United States:*Austin, Arkansas*Austin, Colorado*Austin, Chicago, Illinois*Austin, Indiana*Austin, Minnesota*Austin, Nevada*Austin, Oregon...
, is a component of the Austin-Round Rock-Marble Falls, TX Consolidated Statistical Area.
The city's slogan is: Marble Falls... for a weekend, or a lifetime.
History
Marble Falls was founded in 1887 by Adam Rankin Johnson, a former IndianNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
fighter and Confederate general, known as "Stovepipe" Johnson for his American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
escapades, which included duping the Union army in Newburgh
Newburgh, Indiana
Newburgh is a town in Ohio Township, Warrick County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 3,325 at the 2010 census, which also recorded a population of 342,815 for the entire Evansville metropolitan area.-Geography:...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, with fake "cannons," constructed from stovepipes and wagon wheels. Johnson had viewed the natural Marble Falls during his pre-war days as a Burnet County surveyor, and had dreamed of building an industrial city, powered by the tumbling Colorado River
Colorado River (Texas)
The Colorado River is a river that runs through the U.S. state of Texas; it should not be confused with the much longer Colorado River which flows from Colorado into the Gulf of California....
, not to be confused with the river of the same name in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
and Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
. Despite a "friendly fire" incident which blinded him near the end of the Civil War, General Johnson followed through with his dream, facilitating the construction of a railroad to nearby Granite Mountain in 1884, then (with ten partners, including one son, one nephew and two sons-in-law) platting the townsite and selling lots, beginning July 12, 1887. Johnson built a fine home, a college (soon to be home of the "Falls on the Colorado Museum") and a large factory near the falls. The town grew to a population of 1,800 within ten years.
Marble Falls made history in 1917 by electing Ophelia Crosby "Birdie" Harwood as the nation's first woman mayor, three years before women were allowed to vote!
When the Max Starcke Dam was completed in 1951, the marble falls which had given the town its name were submerged under the new Lake Marble Falls. While the town's economy struggled through the drought of the 1950s, a new economy based on tourism and retirement began to grow in the 1970s. During the last thirty years, Marble Falls has grown into the retail and entertainment center for the Highland Lakes area, and continues to attract tourists, retirees and new businesses.
Geography
According to the United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 6.7 square miles (17.4 km²), of which, 6.1 square miles (15.9 km²) of it is land and 0.6 square miles (1.4 km²) of it (8.21%) is water.
The town is located on the banks of Lake Marble Falls. According to the Handbook of Texas
Handbook of Texas
The Handbook of Texas is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association .-History:...
website, the former falls were flooded by the lake, which was created by a shelf of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
running diagonally across the Colorado River from northeast to southwest. The upper layer of limestone, brownish on the exterior but a deep blue inside, was so hard and chert
Chert
Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...
y it was mistaken for marble. The falls were actually three distinct formations at the head of a canyon 1.25 miles (2 km) long, with a drop of some 50 feet (15.2 m) through the limestone strata. The natural lake and waterfall was covered when the Colorado River was dammed with the completion of Max Starcke Dam in 1951. A photo of the falls as they once existed can be seen at the local bed and breakfast website for the Lake Marble Falls sits between Lake LBJ
Lake LBJ
Lake Lyndon B. Johnson is a reservoir on the Colorado River in the Texas Hill Country in the United States. The reservoir was formed in 1950 by the construction of Granite Shoals Dam by the Lower Colorado River Authority. The Colorado River and the Llano River meet in the northern portion of the...
to the north and Lake Travis
Lake Travis
Lake Travis is a reservoir on the Colorado River in central Texas in the United States. The reservoir was formed in 1942 by the construction of Mansfield Dam on the western edge of Austin, Texas by the Lower Colorado River Authority...
to the south. The falls for which the city is named are now underwater but are revealed every few years when the lake is lowered.
Equally noteworthy is the huge igneous batholith
Batholith
A batholith is a large emplacement of igneous intrusive rock that forms from cooled magma deep in the Earth's crust...
called Granite Mountain
Granite Mountain (Texas)
Granite Mountain is a solid dome of pink granite rising over 860 feet one mile west of Marble Falls, Texas. Since quarry operations began in the late 19th century, the distinctive pink-red colored rock has been used in the construction of the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Texas, and also for the...
looming on the towns' western edge that secured Marble Falls' place in Texas history. The famed pink granite was used for the construction of the Texas State Capitol
Texas State Capitol
The Texas State Capitol is located in Austin, Texas, and is the fourth building to be the house of Texas government in Austin. It houses the chambers of the Texas Legislature and the office of the governor of Texas. It was designed originally during 1881 by architect Elijah E. Myers, and was...
, and can also be found in the Galveston Seawall
Galveston Seawall
The Galveston Seawall is a seawall in Galveston, Texas, USA that was built after the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 for protection from future hurricanes. Construction began in September, 1902, and the initial segment was completed on July 29, 1904. From 1904 to 1963, the seawall was extended from ...
and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is a mixed-use commercial airport located southeast of the central business district of Austin, Texas, United States. It covers and has two runways and three helipads.The airport began passenger service on May 23, 1999...
.
Marble Falls is located at 30°34′27"N 98°16′41"W (30.574135, -98.278180).
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 4,959 people, 1,931 households, and 1,266 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 807.1 people per square mile (311.8/km²). There were 2,085 housing units at an average density of 339.3/sq mi (131.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 85.80% White, 2.48% African American, 0.40% Native American, 0.42% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 8.87% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 2.00% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 22.54% of the population.
There were 1,931 households out of which 35.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.1% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 14.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.4% were non-families. 29.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.10.
In the city the population was spread out with 28.7% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 20.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 88.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,880, and the median income for a family was $38,382. Males had a median income of $30,242 versus $18,771 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $16,059. About 13.9% of families and 16.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.4% of those under age 18 and 12.8% of those age 65 or over.
Notable people from Marble Falls
Gerald LydaGerald Lyda
Gerald Lyda ) was an American cattle rancher, contractor and developer prominent in the state of Texas....
(1923–2005), general contractor and cattle rancher, born and raised in Marble Falls.
John Arthur Martinez
John Arthur Martinez
John Arthur Martinez is an American country music artist. Martinez finished in second place on the first season of the USA Network talent show Nashville Star...
, second place winner on USA Network's "Nashville Star
Nashville Star
Nashville Star is an American reality television program. It was transmitted during mid-2008 on NBC, following five seasons on USA Network. It premiered on March 8, 2003, and its five seasons on USA made it the longest-running competition series on cable television. In Canada, the show aired on CMT...
", taught English and tennis at Marble Falls High School.
Leonel Manzano
Leonel Manzano
Leonel "Leo" Manzano is an American cross-country and track and field athlete. Manzano represented the United States in the 1500 meters at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China and the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin.At the age of four, Manzano's family moved from Mexico to...
, NCAA 1500m Champion, member of the USA 2008 Beijing Olympic Team.
Rod Penner, Hyper-realist artist known for his depictions of Texas towns.
See also
- Marble Falls Independent School DistrictMarble Falls Independent School DistrictMarble Falls Independent School District is a school district based in the city of Marble Falls, in Burnet County, Texas, USA which is located in the heart of the Highland Lakes region of the Texas Hill Country...
- Texas Tech University at Highland LakesTexas Tech University at Highland LakesTexas Tech University at Highland Lakes is an official off campus teaching site of Texas Tech University located in Marble Falls, Texas. The site was established in 2002 to extend Texas Tech's presence in the Texas Hill Country by hosting year-round academic programs.-Academic programs:Texas Tech...