Marrs, S. M. N.

The Handbook of Texas remembers Marrs as a champion of rural and financially weak school districts. He argued that the state should pay an equalization fund from general revenue to poor districts, advocated more professional training for teachers and prompt payment of their salaries, and backed school consolidation, stronger county administration and transport to high school for students who could not otherwise attend. He also promoted English as the required language of instruction in all public and private schools. He was elected state superintendent in 1923 and held the post until his death in 1932.

What the plaque says

Marrs, S. M. N. On January 2, 1862, Starlin Marion Newberry Marrs was born in Gauley Bridge, Fayette County, Virginia (now West Virginia). At 16, he began teaching in rural schools, working in coal mines to make ends meet. He moved to Texas in 1881, teaching in Erath County, Hico and Cleburne. He also earned a degree from Ohio's National Normal University, and wed Anna Hesup, also of West Virginia. In 1893, Terrell's school board chose Marrs as superintendent. In 1897, the board was involved in a political fight with the city aldermen and mayor. During two years of turmoil, Marrs was fired and re-hired, and he resigned to work at the Department of Education in Austin for a year. He returned as Terrell superintendent in 1899. After his first wife died in 1904, Marrs cared for their four children and, in 1909, wed Ina Cadell. In addition to school and family responsibilities, he was an active citizen, playing a role in building Terrell's Carnegie library and also in changing the local government utilizing a city commission model. He also served as president of the Texas State Teachers Association and on the State Board of Examiners. In 1918, Marrs left to become State Supervisor of High Schools. He worked under State Superintendent Annie Webb Blanton, becoming Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1921. He became State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1922. In that job, he initiated compulsory school attendance and worked for better rural schools, stronger high school funding and higher certification standards. Marrs died in 1932 and was buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, He was honored at the 1954 Texas State Fair as one of 100 heroes of Texas education. His contributions to Terrell, and to the state, remain significant. (2004)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• No. 1 British Flying Training School Museum — 1.8 mi
  A free museum at Terrell's airport where about 2,200 RAF cadets learned to fly between 1941 and 1945, with logbooks, uniforms, letters and original training aircraft.
• Rockwall County Historical Foundation & Museum — 16 mi
  A small museum in Harry Myers Park that keeps the evidence on Rockwall's rock wall, sandstone dikes that geologists call natural and folk tales call built.

More markers nearby

• First Baptist Church of Terrell — 0.3 mi
• Rockwall and Brin Church of Christ — 0.4 mi
• First United Methodist Church of Terrell — 0.5 mi
• Homesite of Gov. Oscar Branch Colquitt — 0.5 mi