75657 — Jefferson, the county’s only established ZIP code<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nBerea, Gethsemane, Gray, Hartzo, Jackson, Kellyville, Lassater, Lodi, Lodwich, Orrs, Potters
\nPoint, Prospect, Smithland, Sunview and Warlock have no ZIP code of their own; Marion County has
\nno post office outside Jefferson, so mail across the county is delivered under the 75657 code.<\/p>\n
Geography<\/h2>\n
Marion County sits in Texas’s northeast corner, in the Piney Woods region along the
\nLouisiana state line. Of its 420 square miles, 381 are land and 39 are water, about 9.4 percent
\n— unusually high for East Texas, reflecting the county’s reservoirs. Big Cypress Bayou
\ncrosses the county and feeds Lake o’ the Pines, an 18,680-acre reservoir behind the Ferrells
\nBridge Dam, completed in 1959, that Marion County shares with Camp, Upshur and Morris counties.
\nCaddo Lake lies just east of the county, straddling the Louisiana line.<\/p>\n
Cass County lies to the north, Caddo Parish, Louisiana to the east, Harrison County to the
\nsouth, Upshur County to the west, and Morris County to the northwest. Cass County<\/a>, Caddo Parish<\/a>, Harrison County<\/a>, Upshur County<\/a> and Morris County<\/a> all border Marion
\ndirectly.<\/p>\nDemographics<\/h2>\n
Marion County had 9,725 residents at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the county
\nnear 9,896. Jefferson, the only incorporated place, holds about 1,875 of those residents; the
\nrest live across the county’s unincorporated communities and rural routes. Median household
\nincome runs $39,093 (2020 ACS), well below Texas’s statewide figure of $75,780 (2023 ACS).
\nPopulation density works out to roughly 26 people per square mile of land, among the lowest in
\nEast Texas. The county’s median age was 52.6 in 2020, and residents 65 and older made up 27.0
\npercent of the population, both signs of a small, aging population.<\/p>\n
Economy & Local Life<\/h2>\n
Marion County’s economy today runs on historic-preservation tourism, timber and small-scale
\nagriculture. Jefferson’s downtown historic district, with restored 19th-century storefronts
\nand homes, draws visitors year-round and anchors the county’s hospitality and retail trade.
\nThe Pulpwood Queens Book Club has held its annual conference in Jefferson every January since
\n2000, drawing authors and readers from across the country. Jefferson, Avinger and Ore City
\nindependent school districts serve the county’s students and rank among its largest
\nemployers, alongside county government. Outside Jefferson, cattle ranching and pine timber
\nproduction continue on rural land that once carried cotton plantations.<\/p>\n
History<\/h2>\n
The Texas Legislature created Marion County in 1860, carving it out of Cass County. The county
\nis named for Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War general from South Carolina nicknamed the
\n“Swamp Fox.” Jefferson, founded around 1841 on land ceded by the Caddo, became one of
\nthe busiest inland ports in Texas between 1845 and 1872 — a log jam on the Red River, known
\nas the Great Raft, backed water up high enough for steamboats to reach the town via Big Cypress
\nBayou and Caddo Lake. In 1873 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cleared the raft with
\nnitroglycerin, water levels fell, and Jefferson’s riverboat trade collapsed within a few
\nyears.<\/p>\n
In 1869, the steamboat Mittie Stephens caught fire on Caddo Lake near Jefferson; sixty-one
\npeople died, most from the fire or the boat’s paddlewheel, in one of the deadliest steamboat
\ndisasters on an inland Texas waterway. The county courthouse in Jefferson, designed by architect
\nElmer George Withers, was built in 1914 and still houses county government.<\/p>\n
Getting There<\/h2>\n
U.S. Highway 59 is the county’s main route, running through Jefferson; Interstate 369 is
\nunder construction along the same corridor. State Highways 43, 49 and 155 cross the county along
\nwith several Farm-to-Market roads.<\/p>\n
\n- Marshall — about 15 miles south<\/li>\n
- Longview — about 35 miles southwest<\/li>\n
- Shreveport, Louisiana — about 55 miles east<\/li>\n
- Texarkana — about 60 miles north<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
East Texas Regional Airport, in Longview about 35 miles southwest of Jefferson, is the nearest
\ncommercial airport. Amtrak’s Texas Eagle stops in Marshall, about 15 miles south of Jefferson,
\nconnecting to Dallas and Chicago.<\/p>\n
Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n
Where is Marion County located?<\/strong>
\nIt sits in Texas’s northeast corner along the Louisiana state line, bordered by Cass, Harrison,
\nUpshur and Morris counties and Caddo Parish, Louisiana.<\/p>\nWhat is the population of Marion County?<\/strong>
\n9,725 at the 2020 census, with an estimate near 9,896 by 2024.<\/p>\nHow big is Marion County?<\/strong>
\n420 square miles (1,100 km2), of which 381 square miles are land and 39 square miles are water.<\/p>\nWhat is the county seat of Marion County?<\/strong>
\nJefferson is the county seat and the county’s only incorporated city.<\/p>\nHow many towns are in Marion County?<\/strong>
\nOne incorporated city, Jefferson, plus 14 unincorporated communities: Berea, Gethsemane, Gray,
\nHartzo, Jackson, Kellyville, Lassater, Lodi, Lodwich, Orrs, Potters Point, Prospect, Smithland,
\nSunview and Warlock.<\/p>\nWhat ZIP code does Marion County use?<\/strong>
\n75657, Jefferson’s post office code, covers the whole county.<\/p>\nWhat is Marion County known for?<\/strong>
\nJefferson’s riverboat-era historic district and its 19th-century role as one of Texas’s
\nbusiest inland ports, before an 1873 river-clearing operation ended the trade.<\/p>\nMore counties in this state: Towns and
\nvillages in Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marion County is a county in Texas, United States, in the state’s northeast corner directly on the Louisiana border. It had a population of 9,725 at the 2020 census, an estimated 9,896 by 2024, and covers 420 square miles (1,100 km2) centred near 32°48′N 94°22′W. Jefferson is the county seat and the county’s only incorporated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Towns & Villages in Marion County, Texas","_seopress_titles_desc":"All 15 towns and communities in Marion County, Texas - type, population and ZIP for each, plus Jefferson's riverboat-era history.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-8102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-texas","tag-towns-and-cities","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8102"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9663,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8102\/revisions\/9663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}