Horace Marshall, born the son of vaudeville performers, began his career in magic in 1923 as a performing partner of John Frye — a local Akron magician working the Chataguaga Circuit.  Using many of his own creations in the act, Horace soon discovered that other magicians wanted to purchase his effects.  The demand for his magical creations became so great that it interfered with his performance of magic.  In 1926, Horace decided to devote full-time to the creation, manufacture and sales of magical apparatus — and so the H. Marshall and Company was born over seventy-eight years ago.

With his marriage to Marie Jones in 1931, a line of feather flowers was created. Additional apparatus was made available through German importation.  However, with the advent of World War II, European imports were no longer obtainable.  To fill this void, Marshall’s expanded its woodworking, metal fabrication and silk production.  Further expansion of the Marshall line occurred when Horace bought the rights to the effects of Rudy Schlosser, a renowned manufacturer of floral effects.

When Harry Blackstone, Senior commissioned Marshall’s to create the entire opening of the "Great Blackstone Show" entitled "The Floral Garden", Marshall’s supplied the complete flower act, including all of the silks used in this dazzling "Show of Shows!" When magicians saw his show, orders began to flood in for floral, silk and many other effects. Orders continue to be placed by Marshall customers, both old and new.

Daniel Waldron paid Marshall’s a great compliment in his description of Blackstone’s floral act.  In his book, Blackstone — A Magician’s Life, he wrote "Like many ‘flowers’ used by magicians, these were cleaver creations cut from swan (sic. parried nazurias) feathers.  Not only did such feathers take dyes well, but they compressed into a small space and then spring back into their original shape when released. Blackstone’s floral properties for his "Garden of Flowers" came from the premier flower-maker to magicians, Horace Marshall, of Akron, Ohio.  Their high quality may be judged by the fact that Harry’s handheld blooming rose bouquet still works as beautifully today as it did 60 years ago."

After Horace Marshall passed away on February 24, 1976, Marie Marshall decided to continue the business.  The arduous task of recreating the effects of Horace Marshall began.  Relying upon memory and a few working drawings, Horace Marshall’s effects were slowly reconstructed — many of which had been unavailable to magicians for many years.  On May 6, 1988, Marie Marshall passed away.  Today, Dr. Charles L. Bronstrup II devotes his full time toward carrying on the world famous name and tradition of quality of H. Marshall and Co., that has been manufacturing professional magic equipment for over 78 years.