Johnson had visited the natural marble falls during his pre-war days as a Burnet County surveyor, and wanted to build an industrial city powered by the Colorado River.

Johnson facilitated the construction of a railroad to nearby Granite Mountain in 1884, and helped plat the Marble Falls townsite.

[citation needed] In 1917, Marble Falls elected Ophelia Crosby "Birdie" Harwood as the first woman mayor in Texas, three years before women were allowed to vote.

According to the Handbook of Texas website, the former falls were flooded by the lake, which was created by a shelf of limestone running diagonally across the Colorado River from northeast to southwest.

The upper layer of limestone, brownish on the exterior but a deep blue inside, was so hard and cherty it was mistaken for marble.

The falls were actually three distinct formations at the head of a canyon 1.25 miles (2.01 km) long, with a drop of some 50 feet (15 m) through the limestone strata.

Equally noteworthy is the huge igneous batholith called Granite Mountain looming on the town's western edge that secured Marble Falls' place in Texas history.