Pioneering history: In Marble Falls, tales of a legendary mayor, a museum and those pies
MARBLE FALLS, Texas — A proposed Think, Texas column about a day trip to Burnet County swiftly grew into three separate columns, so fascinating were the historic towns of Marble Falls, Burnet and Bertram — and the people who live there. Today, we look at Marble Falls.
Located about an hour northwest of Austin, Burnet County, while still mostly rural, is growing swiftly.
The largest town, Marble Falls, rises sharply above Lake Marble Falls near the southern rim of the county. Tourists discovered it long before the Colorado River was impounded in 1951 by the Marble Falls Dam, later renamed Max Starcke Dam after the longtime director of the Lower Colorado River Authority.
It replaced the 40-year-old, incomplete Alexander Dam, located a short distance upstream, and a smaller dam that provided power for a textile plant in Marble Falls. (The book to read is “The Untold Story of the Lower Colorado River Authority” by John Williams.)
