This week in Marion
- Middle School Boys Wrestling - MS Boys Wrestling Quad
Fri, Nov 6 · 4:15 PM · Vinton-Shellsburg Middle School - VMS 5/6 Fall Band Concert
Tue, Nov 10 · 6 PM · Marion High School > Performing Arts Center Practice Room - VMS 7/8 Fall Band Concert
Tue, Nov 10 · 7 PM · Marion High School > Performing Arts Center Practice Room
About Marion
Marion borrowed its name from Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War officer remembered as the Swamp Fox, and in 1839 it was chosen as the very first seat of the newly formed Linn County. Courthouse business and the Milwaukee Road, which made the town a railroad division point, filled Seventh Avenue with brick storefronts, and after fires in 1894 and 1895 merchants rebuilt in fancier Victorian style. In 1919 voters moved the county seat to bigger Cedar Rapids next door, yet Marion held on to its own small-town center. Families still tour the 1860s Granger House and its brick carriage house, look up at the octagonal stone First Presbyterian Church finished in 1885, and wander the old homes of the Pucker Street neighborhood. Today it is one of Iowa's fastest-growing cities, about 41,500 people in 2020, while Uptown Marion, its farmers market and the Swamp Fox Festival keep the historic heart busy.