Marshall Historic District

Marshall, Michigan is one of the best-preserved nineteenth-century towns in the United States, a National Historic Landmark District with more than eight hundred documented historic structures. Founded in eighteen thirty, it was briefly positioned to become the state capital. Marshall was the early frontrunner to become the state capital, and the town even built a governor's mansion in eighteen thirty-nine.

Then in eighteen forty-seven the legislature chose Lansing instead. Marshall was left with its buildings but no capitol, and that missed destiny likely saved it. With no industrial boom to tear down the old streetscape, the town's Greek Revival, Italianate, and Gothic Revival homes survived intact.

The annual Marshall Home Tour draws visitors from across the Midwest to see a Victorian streetscape that is almost entirely genuine, not restored but simply preserved.