William W. Cook

For thirty-three years this was the home of William Wallace Cook, prolific write of dime novels. Heros such as Frank Merriwell, Nick Carter, and Buffalo Bill were his speciality. Employed by Street and Smith serial publishers, Cook’s problems in turning out quantities of material on a tight schedule were described in the autobiographical account, The Fiction Factory. He later systematized his writing technique in Plotto, A New Method of Creative Fiction. Born in Marshall in 1867, Cook returned in 1900 and resided here until his death in 1933.