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Marlin is a city in Falls County, Texas, and has served as the county seat since 1851.

The Marlin site began as Sarahville de Viesca, a settlement established in 1834 by Sterling C. Robertson near the falls of the Brazos River, four miles west of present-day Marlin.

The town was named to honor John Marlin, a pioneer patriot of early Texas.

Marlin was incorporated in 1867, and when the Houston and Texas Central Railway was completed in 1871 its population tripled from 500 to 1,500 within a decade.

In 1892 hot mineral water was discovered in Marlin during a search for an artesian well, and the town was transformed into a health resort almost overnight.

Known as the "Hot Mineral Water City of Texas," Marlin built bathhouses such as the Bethesda and Majestic and hotels around its mineral springs, drawing visitors from across the country for roughly fifty years.

Between 1904 and 1918, four Major League Baseball teams — the Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants — held spring training in Marlin to take advantage of its climate and mineral baths.

In 1901 the International-Great Northern Railroad dredged a lake in what became Marlin's City Park, which is still used for recreation and the annual Marlin Festival Days.

Marlin's population peaked at roughly 7,900 around 1950 and again around 1980, during and after its spa era.

The 2020 census counted 5,462 people in Marlin, and the Census Bureau estimated about 5,599 residents by July 2025.