Two years after Harrison County was created by The Republic of Texas Congress in 1839, landowner Peter Whetstone offered property for a courthouse, a church, and a school in an effort to persuade county officials to locate the seat of government in the new town formed on his land. Isaac Van Zandt, the local representative to the Republic Congress, named the new community Marshall in honor of U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall. By 1850 it had become one of the wealthiest towns in East Texas, with a population of about 2,000 and a number of cultural, religious, and civic organizations.
An important Confederate stronghold during the Civil War, Marshall was home to the wartime capital of Missouri and the Postal Headquarters of the South's Trans-Mississippi Department. Following the war, it was the site of an office of the Freedmen's Bureau.
After the Texas and Pacific Railway located its Division Point, shops, and offices here in the 1870's, Marshall became a major regional marketing and educational center. Colleges located here included Marshall University, Marshall Masonic Female Institute, Wiley College, Bishop College, and East Texas Baptist College (later East Texas Baptist University).
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