Marfa, Texas<\/h3>
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Marfa is a city in the high desert of the Trans-Pecos in far West Texas, United States, between the Davis Mountains and Big Bend National Park, at an elevation of 4685 feet. It is the county seat of Presidio County, and its population as of the 2020 United States Census was 1,788. The city was founded in the early 1880s as a water stop; the population peaked in the 1930s and has continued to decline each decade since. However, today Marfa is a tourist destination and a major center for minimalist art. Attractions include Building 98, the Chinati Foundation, artisan shops, historical architecture, a classic Texas town square, modern art installments, art galleries, and the Marfa lights.\n<\/p>
Marfa was founded in the early 1880s as a railroad water stop. The town was named \"Marfa\" (Russian for \"Martha\") at the suggestion of the wife of a railroad executive. Although some historians have hypothesized that the name came from a character in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov,[5] Marfa was actually named after Marfa Strogoff, a character in Jules Verne's novel Michael Strogoff.[6][7] According to Sterry Butcher of the Texas Monthly, a writer researched the Karamazov story and deemed it false, but did not receive any letters to the editor after he submitted the story to the newspaper, and therefore \"No one cared. The story we had suited Marfa just fine.\"[8]<\/p><\/div>\n