Marfa, Texas began as a water stop for the Union Pacific Railroad as it forged it’s cross country rail system to the Pacific Coast of the U.S. Cattle ranching and silver mining soon followed as the town grew to service the inhabitants of the area. Marfa was settled in the mid 19th century by two distinct groups: Primarily Anglo-European families started to homestead the area by using the town as a source of supplies and social life and the Mexican families who began to migrate northward to the growing settlement. Both groups can attribute their families back three or four generations.