William John Marsh

Marsh wrote far more than one song. The Handbook of Texas says he was a teenage organist and choirmaster in Liverpool before moving to Fort Worth in 1904. He composed the Christmas song "O Night Divine" and The Flower Fair at Peking, a one-act opera from 1931 that was reputedly the first composed and produced in Texas. He also wrote the official Mass for the Texas Centennial, performed in Dallas with several thousand singers. John Philip Sousa reportedly called "Texas Our Texas" the finest state song he had heard. Marsh later chaired the Texas Composers' Guild for twenty-seven years.

What the plaque says

William John Marsh (June 24, 1880 - Feb. 1, 1971) Born near Liverpool, England, William John Marsh was an accomplished organist and musician when he came to Fort Worth in 1904 to enter the cotton business. In addition to his bookkeeping work, he served as organist and choirmaster for two area churches and one synagogue, and as choral director and Professor of Organ at Texas Christian University. He also composed over 100 pieces of music. In 1929, his composition "Texas, Our Texas" won in competition to become the official state song. Marsh died in Fort Worth at the age of 90. (1985)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Kimbell Art Museum — 1.0 mi
  Louis Kahn's cycloid-vaulted museum of 1972, built from Kay Kimbell's bequest and joined in 2013 by Renzo Piano's pavilion for the exhibitions the Kahn galleries could not hold.
• National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame — 1.4 mi
  A hall of fame begun in Hereford in 1975 to honor rodeo women, widened in 1977 to Western heritage, and housed in Fort Worth's Cultural District since 2002.
• Tarrant County Courthouse — 2.0 mi
  A pink-granite courthouse of 1895 on the bluff where the Army set up Fort Worth in 1849, in a county named for the man who led the 1841 attack on the Native villages of Village Creek.
• Fort Worth Stockyards — 2.2 mi
  The brick-street cattle market where Armour and Swift built packing plants in 1902, now a National Register district with a Coliseum, a museum and a longhorn drive twice a day.

More markers nearby

• Ormer Leslie Locklear — steps away
• Royal Flying Corps — steps away
• Lawrence Clifton Elliott — 0.2 mi
• Ahavath Sholom Hebrew Cemetery — 0.3 mi