The Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway was chartered in 1870 to give interior Texas ready access to Gulf of Mexico ports. As the tracks proceeded west of the Guadalupe, Col Thomas W. Peirce (1818-85), a major investor in the G.H. & S.A., bought land here near a country store and hotel. Platting a town named for his daughter, he obtained a U.S. Post Office on May 31, 1877. A public sale of lots was held on June 20, 1877. Within a year, Marion's 3-acre railyard was known for vast quantities of shipping. By 1900, public school, churches and other facilities were thriving.