Marshall has seemingly developed an economic life of its own, according to an Austin economist.

During the 1990s, Marshall's economic growth lagged behind the state's overall growth.

But from 2001 through 2004, Marshall's retail economic growth exceeded state retail growth by 32.5 percent, according to Jerry Walker, owner of DataSource, an economic consulting research and analysis firm.

"The real boom period has been the last three years, and seems to be continuing into 2005," he said.