Originally part of colonial Craven County and Georgetown District of 1769, this area was created as Liberty County by an Act of the General Assembly in 1785. Its name was changed to Marion District in 1798 and to Marion County in 1868. The present county lines were established when Florence County was withdrawn in 1888 and Dillon County in 1910. The county contains 480 square miles. The courthouse, erected in 1853 at a cost of twelve thousand five hundred dollars, is the third structure built on this site to house the court. Restored in 1970, it retains its original ironwork, and each step bears the name and address of the metal worker, "Hayward Bartlett, Baltimore."