About Marble Falls
General Facts
- Founded: By General Adam R "Stovepipe" Johnson on July 12, 1887
- Incorporated: May 18, 1907
- Population: 7,222 (est)
- Size: 16.33 square miles
- County: Burnet
- Location: Marble Falls is located in the middle of the Texas Hill Country on the Colorado River, 58 miles northwest of downtown Austin, 85 miles north of San Antonio, in the middle of the Highland Lakes area, the largest chain of lakes in Texas.
Where did the name Marble Falls originate?
Marble Falls sits on the banks of Lake Marble Falls. The falls were formed by a shelf of limestone running diagonally across the river from northeast to southwest. The upper layer of limestone, brownish on the exterior, but deep blue inside, was so hard and cherry it was mistaken for marble. The falls were actually three distinct formations at the head of a canyon 1.25 miles long, with a drop of some 50 feet through the limestone strata.
The natural lake was covered when the Colorado River was dammed with the completion of Max Starcke Dam in 1951. Lake Marble Falls sits between Lake LBJ to the north and Lake Travis to the south. The falls for which the City is named are now underwater, but are revealed every few years when the lake is lowered by the Lower Colorado River Authority for repairs.
Not Marble, but Granite
When Visitors come to Marble Falls, they obviously assume our lakeside town sits on marble rock deposits, but we are actually known for our granite. Granite Mountain, located west of town on FM 1431, was created more than 4.5 billion years ago forming nature's hardest stone and at the time of its discovery, was 866 feet tall. On July 29, 1885, the town donated its granite to erect the now Texas State Capitol located in Austin, Texas in exchange for a railroad system and labor to mine the rock. 15,700 carloads of granite were transported to the site in Austin and at the time of its completion in 1888, the Texas State Capitol was said to be the seventh largest building in the world. It is the largest capitol state building in the United States today, and only second in size to the National Capitol in Washington D.C. Our granite from Granite Mountain has also been used in the construction of the Coca-Cola Building in Atlanta, Wyndham Hotel in Dallas, the Galveston Sewawell, and the Crocker Building in San Francisco. Although the shape of the dome has changed throughout its lifetime, geologists say there are still centuries left in the mining process and that it is the largest of its kind in the United States.