Follow
Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Falls County, Texas.
Official Website
History
The Brazos River valley served as hunting grounds for several tribes, including Wacos, Tawakonis, and Anadarkos. The Comanches were often a more aggressive band who forced other tribes off the land. The Tawakoni branch of Wichita Indians originated north of Texas, but migrated south into east Texas. From 1843 onward, the Tawakoni were part of treaties made by both the Republic of Texas and the United States.
The Cherokees arrived in the early 1830s. Sam Houston, adopted son of Chief Oolooteka (John Jolly) of the Cherokee, negotiated the February 1836 treaty between Chief Bowl of the Cherokees and the Republic of Texas.
January 1839, Falls County saw two brutal massacres by the Anadarkos, under chief José María, at the homes of George Morgan and John Marlin. A retaliatory offensive by settlers was ineffective and forced the group into a retreat.
In 1846, several tribes negotiated a treaty with the United States government.
Empresarios "Sterling C. Robertson: Texas Association/Nashville Co." and Robert Leftwich received a grant from the Coahuila y Tejas legislature to settle 800 families. By contracting how many families each grantee could settle, the government sought to have some control over colonization. Robertson began bringing American settlers to his Nashville colony (later called Robertson's Colony). Most of the settlers came from Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi. He named the capital of the Nashville colony Sarahville de Viesca. Fort Viesca was built in 1834, with a name change to Fort Milam in 1835. The settlement was deserted during the Runaway Scrape of 1836, and reoccupied after the Battle of San Jacinto.
The state legislature formed Falls County from Limestone and Milam counties in 1850, and named it after the falls of the Brazos River.
By the census of 1860 the county had 1,716 slaves. Falls County voted in favor of secession from the Union. The county fared better during Reconstruction than most, perhaps due to its distance from areas subject to Union military occupation.
Marlin began to be known by the healing powers of its hot mineral waters by the 1890s. Conrad Hilton built the Falls Hotel, with a tunnel to a mineral bath, to accommodate the business generated by the hot spring.
Marlin has been a filming location for two movies: Leadbelly (1976) and Infamous (2006).
Adjacent Counties
Cities & Towns
- Barclay
- Bruceville-Eddy (part)
- Cedar Springs
- Cego
- Chilton
- Durango
- Golinda (part)
- Highbank
- Lott
- Marlin (County Seat)
- McClanahan
- Mooreville
- Otto
- Perry
- Pleasant Grove
- Reagan
- Rosebud
- Satin
Links
