Historical Marker · No. 25
Marysville
Marshall County · Kansas
Erected by State of Kansas
Travelers in 1860 were blunt about the town Marshall named for his wife. Richard Burton, crossing on the mail coach in August, passed 'Marysville, in old maps Palmetto City, a county town which thrives by selling whisky to ruffians of all descriptions,' and forded the Big Blue before sunset, a brisk stream clear as crystal, forty or fifty yards wide and about two and a half feet deep at the ford. Albert D. Richardson, passing the same year, wrote in Beyond the Mississippi (1867) that the town had 50 houses and 'was famed for whisky and shooting affrays.'
What the plaque says
Marysville In 1849, Frank Marshall obtained permission from the U.S. government to establish a trading post and ferry before Kansas opened for settlement. Thousands of wagons lined up to cross the Blue River on the Oregon- California Trail as settlers headed northwest and gold seekers headed to California. Marshall's ferry transported three wagons at a time. "The Big Blue river is quite a stream of water and when it is high has to be ferried. At the time of our crossing the water had fallen so as to be fordable. Although a cold and wet morning the boys took to water like young ducks." —John H. Clark, 1852 After Kansas Territory opened for settlement in 1854, Marshall's family joined him from Missouri. He named Marysville after his wife; the county was named for him. Marysville eventually became the county seat. In 1860 the town became a station on the Pony Express and later a stop on the Overland Stage Line. Erected by the State of Kansas
Where it stands
39.84203, -96.62291 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Rock Creek Station State Historical Park — 30 miA stage and Pony Express station on the trail southeast of Fairbury where James Hickok killed David McCanles in July 1861, with the court papers that cleared him, and deep wagon ruts.