The city of Marshall was platted in 1830 by
Sidney Ketchum, a land speculator from Clinton County, New York. In 1832 townsfolk erected their first public building, a modest frame schoolhouse, on land donated by
Isaac E. Crary, who became one of the fathers of the Michigan public school system. During its early years, the schoolhouse also served as a church for three denominations, the circuit court of Calhoun County and, during the cholera epidemic, a hospital.