Texarkana, Texas: Twice as Nice

Several years ago, we drove to Little Rock and drove through this town so we thought, as part of "stop and visit the small town" theme, we'd make this a destination city. Why not? We'd never been. This is Texarkana, Texas.

Texarkana is about 180 miles northeast of Dallas off of I-30. On the Texas side there are about 36,000 people with a median income of approximately $30K. When you toss in the twin city of Texarkana, Arkansas, the population goes up to about 66,000. The top three employers of the area are: Red River Army Depot, Christus St. Michael Healthcare and Cooper Tire & Rubber Company.

Until about the 1870's, trains ran to the border of Texas. Passengers would then have to be ferried across the Red River to Fulton, Arkansas where they would continue their journey. In 1873, that changed. The Red River Bridge was built allowing trains run all the way through to St. Louis. The railroad moguls felt that this place was the perfect place for the trains to meet. This place became Texarkana.

The name Texarkana is a "portmanteau" (I had to look that word up!), which is basically a mash-up of words. Texas - Arkansas - Louisiana.

This is Union Station in Texarkana. Built in 1928 through the joint effort of  the Missouri-Pacific, Texas & Pacific, Cotton Belt and Kanas City Southern Railroad, the station was originally scheduled to have restaurant but due to the Great Depression, the most they ever had there was a snack bar and a news stand. The Amtrack still stops there.

Immediately across the street was the Hotel McCartney, Built in 1929 by W. A. McCartney, the hotel had 10 stories and a beautiful ballroom. On the first floor was a coffee house. As air travel became more populate and travel by train slowed down, the hotel eventually shut down in 1975. It's currently being renovated to house retail on the first floor and offices on the upper floors.

John on the "Texas side". Behind him is the historic federal courthouse and post office. The post office has two zip codes, one for Texas and one for Arkansas. It sits right in the center of the street, straddling the state line. The statue is the Confederate Mothers Monument, which is a monument to the confederate soldiers that fought during the Civil War and their moms.

A rare photo of both of us. A very nice lady took our photo on the state line. I'm in Texas and John is in Arkansas.

There's a fountain behind the courthouse and it, too, is divided by the state line. The trench in the middle is the actual state line. On the left is Arkansas and the right is Texas.

St. James Episcopal Church built in 1893 on the Texas side.

The neighboring Downtown First Baptist Church. Also on the Texas side, I tried to find out when it was built but I didn't see anything. 

This building (white with what looks like 4 townhomes) looked kind of cool and I wondered what it was. Townhomes? Office buildings? The building next to it is the Hotel Grim. Built in 1925, it had 8 stories and 250 rooms. It closed in 1990. It's now being refurbished into loft apartments.

I found this photo of the same building from the fifties, maybe? It looks like the building was commercial offices. I'm hoping it gets rehabbed as well. Condos maybe?

There are a ton of murals in the city. I like this one of the Budweiser Clydesdales.

Otis Williams, a native son. He was the leader of the Temptations (of "My Girl" fame).

Another native son, Scott Joplin. He was a ragtime pianist. He wrote "The Entertainer". If you google it and listen to it, you'll recognize it.

This is the Ross Perot Theatre. He, too, is a native son. This was originally called the Saenger Theater when it was built in 1924. In 1930, it was bought by Paramount and became a movie theater. By 1977, the theater closed. Perot and his family donated money to renovate the theater. Now it is home to the Texarkana symphony and hosts live performances. We could hear the symphony practicing when we were standing outside.

A view of the state line. That yellow line divides Arkansas and Texas and goes straight through the courthouse at the other end.

The Regional History Museum. Built in 1879, the building was originally a bank. Then it became the Offenhauser Insurance Building.

In 1971, the building was donated to the Texarkana Museum System. When they were remodeling, they broke through a wall and found this safe from about 1880, when the building housed a bank. Isn't that cool? I'd love to have been part of that. The museum is very cool. For $5 a person you can check out the history if the city.

It has exhibits about the town itself and some of the native sons. For example, did you know that because Texarkana is two separate cities, each city has a distinct fire department? If there was a fire in the Arkansas side, even though it was across the street from the Texas side, the Texas fire department could do nothing to help? Weird, right?

It's well worth the effort!

This was a special treat. We actually know someone who lives here. Our friend, Michael Skotnik.

He and John have been friends since they both attended St. Maria Goretti Catholic School in Arlington Tx. 

As we crossed the state line, our car would say, "Welcome to Arkansas" and we'd go, "what?" not realizing that we'd crossed the state line. But on the Arkansas side of town they had some really cool old churches. This is Beech Street Baptist Church. The building was erected in 1904 so it's over 100 years old. The photo doesn't do it justice. It's breath taking.

Right down the street (and I mean like at the end of the parking lot from Beech Street Baptist Church) is St. Edwards Catholic Church. The parish was founded in 1903 but the structure itself wasn't built until 1923. It's a beautiful church.

Morris County Courthouse. This is on the Arkansas side.

P.J. Ahern House on the left. P.J. Ahern was an immigrant from Ireland. He moved here and went into business with a friend at a dry goods store. In 1904 he married Mary Olive Landsdale and built her this house in 1906. The first floor had the central hall, the music room, parlor, library, dining room and butler pantry. The upstairs had 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a nursery as well as a sleeping porch. The house next door belonged to Mary's sister, Mrs. J. P. Kline. The Ahern house is part of the Texarkana Museum System but was closed for renovations when we were there. I'm not sure what's going on with the sister's house.

The building for the Four States Auto Museum. It's the one story building in the front. It's located on a site that was previously used to build wagon and automobile bodies. The museum was created in 2004 and, at any given time, will display up to 15 different cars and motorcycles. Museum entrance is free but it's only open on Saturdays 10-4 and Sun 1- 4. Unfortunately, we weren't there during those times.

The building behind it is Buhrman-Pharr Hardware building. The business consisted of two buildings, the first built in 1914, the second build in 1923. The company was a born in the 1880's by W. H. Burhman. In 1908, F. E. Pharr joined the business. They were the largest wholesaler of hardware in Arkansas. The wholesale business closed in 2001 and the retail business closed in 2003. The buildings now house lofts.

Downtown Texarkana is in desperate need of revitalization. We had dinner and drinks down there at the Hopkins Icehouse, which was fantastic! Great food, cold drinks. But aside from that, there wasn't much going on down there. I think it has potential and there is some work being done but there's lot's more to do. So many cool old buildings to save and rehabilitate.

Lest you think there's nothing cool to do in Texarkana aside from a museum or two, check out this lake. Bringle Lake Park has lots of cool walking trails.

OH! and there's the Phantom Killer stories. Yeah. We were staying at the Hampton Inn (as we do) over by the Central Mall off I-30. Back in the day that was a "lover's lane" type area where kids would go to park and...stuff.  Well, back in the 1946, there was a lunatic going around and killing couples that were parked in this area. The first incident, both of the victims lived. But after that there were two other couples that were killed and then one guy who lived on a farm not far from this area.

They suspected one person, but I guess couldn't prove it so the murders were never solved. There was a movie made about this called "The Town That Dreaded Sundown".

So, a lot more to Texarkana than meets the eye. Check it out but remember, museums are closed on Monday.