The Marshall Hotel was built by the Marshall brothers in 1870 and called the Bay View Hotel. They built the tavern in 1873 as a soda shop and hardware store. An addition was built around 1910.

A Northwestern Pacific Railroad map shows that in 1915 the site included a dock.

The hotel burned to the ground in 1971.

The tavern has been vacant since 1990.

Source: Marin Independent Journal, 10 May 2013

Located on the east shore of Tomales Bay, Marshall has a population of about 400. An authentic-looking road sign shows a population of fifty. Knowledgeable locals will tell you that fifty is the sum of Marshall's elevation (fifteen feet above sea level) and the speed limit (thirty-five miles per hour).

The dairy industry in Marin County began here in the 1850s when brothers Hugh, James, Samuel, Alexander and David Marshall arrived from the East with a herd of cattle. Others, with a fanciful bent of mind, will tell you that Clara Steele founded the dairy industry when she and a Miwok Indian milked a wild cow.

Starting in the 1870s, Marshall was a stop on the North Pacific Coast Railroad connecting Cazadero to the Sausalito ferry.

A few dairies remain including Straus Family Creamery, but today the economy relies on tourists and oysters and clams. About half the shellfish growers in California lease acreage on the floor of Tomales Bay.

Source: Wikipedia and West Marin Chamber of Commerce