Marshall Ford: A Historical Resort and Fishing Center on Lake Travis


By: Claudia Hazlewood

Published: 1952

Updated: July 27, 2023

Marshall Ford is a resort and fishing center on Lake Travis eighteen miles northwest of Austin in Travis County. The original ford or low-water crossing of the Colorado River was used for many years to connect the agricultural and ranching areas of the western part of the county with Austin; the trading center and supply point in the bend of the river became the market for cedar timber and posts. In 1934 the area was taken over by the Lower Colorado River Authority, and Mansfield Dam was built as the key flood-control structure in a series of dams in the Colorado basin. A post office opened at Marshall Ford in 1937 with Jack S. Beauchamp as postmaster. The office was discontinued in 1942, and mail for the community was sent to Austin.

TSHA is a proud affiliate of University of Texas at Austin

Mary Starr Barkley, History of Travis County and Austin, 1839–1899 (Waco: Texian Press, 1963). John J. Germann and Myron Janzen, Texas Post Offices by County (1986).

Places:

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.

Claudia Hazlewood, “Marshall Ford, TX,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/marshall-ford-tx.

Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

TID: HRM16

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1952
July 27, 2023

Find out more about this place from our Texas Almanac.

Place
Marshall Ford
Currently Exists
No
Place Type
Town
USGS ID
1362202
Town Fields
  • Has post office: No
  • Is Incorporated: No
Belongs to
  • Travis County
Associated Names

-Dam

Coordinates
  • Latitude: 30.39186830°
  • Longitude: -97.88862160°

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