Marshall

History

Marshall began as a community when the Unassigned Lands were opened for settlement in 1889. Sylvan T. Rice opened a post office in 1890. Rice was from Marshalltown, Iowa and named the new town Marshall after his home town. He also opened the first store in 1894. The town boomed after the opening of the Cherokee Strip in 1893. The Denver, Enid and Gulf Railroad built a track nearby a few years later in 1902 a half-mile from town so the entire town moved to be near the railroad. Marshall was incorporated in 1903. The railroad was bought by the Eastern Oklahoma Railway in 1907, which resold it to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in the same year. Famous Oklahoma author Dr. Angie Debo was from Marshall, Oklahoma. She died in 1988. She had written many books about the fate of Indians. Her portrait hangs in the Oklahoma Capitol. Miss Debo wrote a book called Prairie City which was loosely based on Marshall, and Marshall started a town celebration in 1968 in honor of Miss Debo called Prairie City Days. Marshall was known as the school band "capital" of the world in the 1940s. Area schools would come to compete and march down main street. It was known as "The Biggest Little Band Festival in the World" and was held from 1938 to 1951. It was founded by Tibby Shades (school superintendent) and Ashley Alexander Sr. (band director). It was cancelled in 1952 due to the state band contest being scheduled on the same date and was never revived. It grew to such magnitude that WKY radio out of Oklahoma City broadcast the marching band performances held on main street. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol increased participation on festival day to assist with the traffic situation. Fifty-Seven towns converged on Marshall in 1951 to participate in the festival with sixty-five…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.5 square mile (1.3 km2), all land.

Race & ethnicity