Marienfeld was the former name of Stanton. It began in 1881 as a German colony founded by five German Catholics from Kansas, who pitched tents there near the new Texas & Pacific Railroad. The site, which had a water tank, section house, and telegraph office, had been called Grelton, but the settlers changed the name to Marienfeld, German for "Field of Mary." The county had been created in 1876 and named for Wylie Martin, a senator in the Republic of Texas. When the county was organized, the town became the county seat, and the first commissioners court met there on December 13, 1884. In 1890, through Protestant influence, the town was renamed Stanton.