Jefferson is a small city in Northeast Texas and the seat of Marion County, situated on Big Cypress Bayou, a slow-moving tributary that feeds Caddo Lake near the Texas-Louisiana border. With roughly 1,900 residents, it is the county's largest town and a place whose identity is inseparable from its 19th-century history. Jefferson rose to prominence as a riverport. Its location at a wide bend in Big Cypress Bayou allowed steamboats to turn around, and by the mid-1800s the town was a major inland port, connected by water to the Red River and the Mississippi system. The first steamboat to reach Jefferson, the Llama, traveled from Shreveport through Caddo Lake and up the bayou. In its heyday Jefferson was reportedly larger than Dallas, with a thriving commercial district. When the railroads bypassed the town in the 1870s, its fortunes declined and its growth stalled — which, in a twist, preserved its historic fabric. A brief oil boom in the late 1930s brought temporary prosperity. Today Jefferson is one of Texas's best-known heritage-tourism towns. Almost every commercial building and house along its main street bears a historic marker, and the surrounding neighborhoods hold antebellum and Victorian homes, many now operating as bed-and-breakfast inns. Riverboat excursions still run on Big Cypress Bayou, and Caddo Lake, with its cypress swamps and fishing, lies minutes away. The community is served by Jefferson ISD, a small district of roughly five campuses. Local life centers on the downtown square, the riverfront, and the steady stream of visitors drawn by history, antiquing, and the lake. Jefferson suits people who want a quiet, history-rich small town in the Piney Woods, with Caddo Lake as a backyard and a strong tourism economy.