Marshall has played a significant role in the formation of the public school system in Michigan.  A large oak tree once stood in Marshall under which Isaac E. Crary and Reverend John D. Pierce sat one summer day in 1834 and laid the foundation for the Michigan Public School System, which was included as a part of the 1835 Constitutional Convention.  Crary served in Washington, D.C, as Michigan’s first congressman and Pierce became Michigan’s first Superintendent of Public Instruction.   When efforts in 1980 were unsuccessful to save the famous dying oak tree, a chainsaw artist crafted a statue of Crary and Pierce from the tree.  The statue has been moved to the foyer of the Marshall Middle School