Though Marcus is the oldest continually occupied white settlement in Stevens County, the present town has only been inhabited since 1938. At that time Marcus was the largest of the towns which were forced to move to higher ground when construction of the Grand Coulee Dam flooded the Columbia Valley.
Though the nearby Fort Colvile was built in either 1816 or 1825, the site of Marcus was first inhabited in 1860 by the British contingent of the Boundary Survey and used as winter quarters until 1862. At this time a German immigrant, Marcus Oppenheimer, making his way west, arrived at the site and purchased an interest in a merchandising business.
In 1883 Oppenheimer applied for a post office, submitting the name "
White's Landing", which was rejected, as was the name"
Old Fort". In frustration, Oppenheimer submitted his first name, "
Marcus", which was accepted, officially naming the town Marcus.
On July 27th, 1890, Marcus Oppenheimer and Joseph Monaghon platted the town, which remained a small trading post until 1896, when opening of the Colville Reservation to prospecting caused a stampede to the area. By 1901, Marcus had become an important railroad shipping point and was growing fast. The town was incorporated on October 18, 1910 with a population of nearly 3,000. Today that population has dwindled to less than 200.
In 1862, Marcus Oppenheimer (1834-1901) settles on the Columbia River near the Canadian border in what will be Stevens County. He opens a store to purvey goods to miners traveling north to Canada, and he and his brothers, Joseph and Samuel, eventually diversify into steamboats, freight lines, and flour milling. He is the only Jewish immigrant to Washington to have a town named after him.
Marcus is located 75 miles northwest of Spokane. It came into being when a British survey team including geologists, naturalists, and 45 engineers put up buildings there to begin a survey of the international border in conjunction with the United States team based at Fort Colville. The survey crews completed their work in 1862, and Marcus Oppenheimer, who arrived from Kentucky, immediately filed for a homestead on the ground where the British Boundary Commission buildings stood. He platted a town and opened a store to provide goods to miners and prospectors moving through the area on their way to Canada.
In 1880 the Spokane Falls and Northern Railroad linked Marcus to the mining country in Canada and a later railroad, which became the Great Northern, connected the community to the Okanogan agricultural lands. Marcus became a center of shipping and logging. The town was incorporated on October 18, 1910.
In the 1930s, Marcus was one of the largest towns forced by the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam to move to higher ground. The community's original site was inundated by Lake Roosevelt, the reservoir behind the dam.
In 2003, Marcus was a residential community with an estimated population of 164. It is the oldest continually occupied white settlement in Stevens County.
From History Link