Marshall Clinton Formby, Jr.
McAdoo, Dickens County, Texas
Marker Inscription
BORN IN HOPKINS COUNTY IN EAST TEXAS, MARSHALL CLINTON FORMBY, JR., MOVED WITH HIS FAMILY TO McADOO (3 MI. N) WHEN HE WAS FIVE YEARS OLD AND SPENT HIS ADULT LIFE WORKING FOR THE BETTERMENT OF THIS PART OF THE STATE. EDUCATED AT TEXAS TECHNOLOGICAL COLLEGE (NOW TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY), THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AND BAYLOR UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW, FORMBY USED HIS TALENTS IN A VARIETY OF BUSINESS AND PUBLIC SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES. MARSHALL FORMBY MAINTAINED EXTENSIVE FARMING INTERESTS IN WEST TEXAS IN ADDITION TO OIL VENTURES AND RADIO, NEWSPAPER AND CABLE TELEVISION ENTERPRISES. HE SERVED AS DICKENS COUNTY JUDGE FROM 1936 TO 1940 AND WAS ELECTED TO THE TEXAS SENATE, ALTHOUGH HIS PARTICIPATION AS A U.S. ARMY CAPTAIN IN THE EUROPEAN THEATRE OF WORLD WAR II KEPT HIM AWAY FROM THE STATE CAPITOL FOR MUCH OF HIS TERM. FORMBY CONTINUED HIS STATEWIDE PUBLIC SERVICE AS A GOVERNOR-APPOINTED MEMBER OF THE TEXAS HIGHWAY COMMISSION IN 1953-59, INCLUDING TWO YEARS AS CHAIR. DURING HIS TENURE, HE WORKED FOR THE PAVING OF FARM-TO-MARKET ROADS AND FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM IN TEXAS. A MEMBER OF THE TEXAS TECH BOARD OF REGENTS, HE ALSO SERVED 12 YEARS ON THE STATE'S COLLEGE COORDINATING BOARD. ACTIVE IN THE BAPTIST CHURCH AND IN NUMEROUS CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS, MARSHALL FORMBY RECEIVED MANY AWARDS AND HONORS FOR HIS SERVICE TO HIS COMMUNITY, REGION AND STATE. HE DIED AT HIS HOME IN PLAINVIEW IN 1984 AND IS BURIED IN THE McADOO CEMETERY.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Raised in the tiny community of McAdoo, Marshall Clinton Formby, Jr. devoted his life to the betterment of West Texas. He served as Dickens County judge, won a Texas Senate seat interrupted by his service as an Army captain in the European theater of World War II, and built businesses in farming, oil, radio, newspapers, and cable television. As a member and chair of the Texas Highway Commission in the 1950s, he championed farm-to-market roads and the state's interstate highway system, and he served for years on the boards guiding Texas Tech and higher education.
Why it matters
Formby helped lay the roads that knit modern Texas together and shaped the state's colleges, embodying the mid-century public servant who built the infrastructure of postwar America.
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Related people
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Themes & tags
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Marshall Clinton Formby, Jr.
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Marshall Clinton Formby, Jr. grew up in the tiny Dickens County community of McAdoo and devoted his life to the betterment of West Texas. A Texas Tech graduate and World War II veteran, he became a pioneering owner of radio stations across the region before earning a law degree and serving the state as a Highway Commissioner and Texas Tech regent.
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