Falls County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 16,968. The county seat is Marlin. It is named for the original 10-foot-tall waterfalls on the Brazos River, which existed until the river changed course during a storm in 1866. The present falls are two miles northeast of the original falls, at the Falls on the Brazos Park, a camping site only a few miles out of Marlin on Farm to Market Road 712.
Falls County is part of the Waco, Texas, metropolitan statistical area.
With a large portion of its economy based on agriculture, Falls County is sixth among 254 Texas counties in corn production.
History
Native Americans
The Brazos River Valley served as hunting grounds for several tribes, including Wacos, Tawakonis, and Anadarkos. The Comanches were often a more aggressive band, who forced other tribes off the land. The Tawakoni branch of Wichita Indians originated north of Texas, but migrated south into East Texas. From 1843 onward, the Tawakoni were part of treaties made by both the Republic of Texas and the United States.
The Cherokees arrived in the early 1830s. Sam Houston, adopted son of Chief Oolooteka (John Jolly) of the Cherokee, negotiated the February 1836 treaty between Chief Bowl of the Cherokees and the Republic of Texas.
January 1839, Falls County had two brutal massacres by the Anadarkos, under chief José María, at the homes of George Morgan and John Marlin. A retaliatory offensive by settlers was ineffective, and forced the group into a retreat.
In 1846, several tribes negotiated a treaty with the United States government.
Settlers
Empresarios Sterling C. Robertson and Robert Leftwich received a grant from the Coahuila y Tejas legislature to settle 800 families. By contracting how many families each grantee could settle, the government sought to have some control over colonization. Robertson began bringing American settlers to his Nashville colony (later called Robertson's Colony). Most of the settlers came from Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi. He named the capital of the Nashville colony Sarahville de Viesca.
Fort Viesca was built in 1834, with a name change to Fort Milam in 1835. The settlement was deserted during the Runaway Scrape of 1836, and reoccupied after the Battle of San Jacinto.
County established and growth
The state legislature formed Falls County from Limestone and Milam Counties in 1850, and named it after the falls of the Brazos River. Marlin became the county seat.
By the census of 1860, the county had 1,716 slaves. Falls County voted in favor of secession from the Union. The county fared better during Reconstruction than most, perhaps due to its distance from areas subject to Union military occupation.
Marlin began to be known for the healing powers of its hot mineral waters by the 1890s. Conrad Hilton built the Falls Hotel, with a tunnel to a mineral bath, to accommodate the business generated by the hot spring.
The Houston and Texas Central Railway became the first railroad through the county around 1870. The Waco Division of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway, in 1886–1925, had multiple stops in Falls County. In 1902, the Missouri Pacific Railroad passed through the county.
A log cabin served as the county's first courthouse in the 1850s, until the second courthouse was built of white cedar. The second courthouse burned in 1870. A third courthouse was built in 1876, but was damaged by a storm in 1886.
A fourth courthouse was built in 1888, which by the 1930s had greatly deteriorated. The concrete, brick, and stone fifth and present-day courthouse, designed by architect Arthur E. Thomas, was completed in 1939.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which are land and (1.1%) are covered by water.
Major highways
- 20px Interstate 35 (two miles)
- 20px U.S. Highway 77
- 20px State Highway 6
- 20px State Highway 7
- 20px State Highway 14
- 20px State Highway 53
- 20px State Highway 320
Adjacent counties
- Limestone County (northeast)
- Robertson County (southeast)
- Milam County (south)
- Bell County (southwest)
- McLennan County (northwest)