City of Marysville, KS

Marysville, KS is a city in, and the county seat of, Marshall County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,294.

 

In 1851, Francis J. (Frank) Marshall of Weston, Missouri arrived on the bank of the Big Blue River. He came here to establish a trading post and to operate a ferry. On November 11, 1854 Marshall opened the first civilian Post Office in the Territory of Kansas. Marshall lent his name to the county, and Marysville, KS was named to honor his wife Mary.[citation needed]Mr. Marshall charged up to $5.00 per wagon and 25 cents per head of livestock to use his rope powered ferry across the Big Blue river, which operated until replaced by a bridge in 1864. He was a pro slavery candidate for governor in 1857.[citation needed]Marysville was located on the Oregon Trail and the route of the Pony Express, the St. Joe Road, the Overland Stage, The Military Road, and the Otoe-Missouria Trail. British explorer Richard Francis Burton en route to California in 1860 noted: "Passing by Marysville, in old maps Palmetto City, a country-town which thrives by selling whiskey to ruffians of all descriptions ..." The old Pony Express Station still stands in downtown Marysville. Marysville owes much of its prosperity to the Union Pacific Railroad. The railroad has been a major employer in the town for nearly 100 years. Over 60 trains pass through the town daily and the railroad recently completed an underpass which redirects the tracks below US-36, rather than crossing the highway and backing up traffic.[citation needed]Marysville is also known as the "Black Squirrel City" due to an isolated community of all-black squirrels that make their homes in the town. The squirrels are said to be the result of escapees from a traveling circus.