Welcome to the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce. In 1905, the Texarkana Board of Trade joined business leaders of Houston and Pine Bluff to become one of only three cities in Texas and Arkansas to establish charter membership in the US Chamber of Commerce. Officially established and named in 1917, the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce was given the unique opportunity to serve two cities that share a name, in two states that share a border. Yes, Texarkana is actually two independently functioning cities that are joined along the Texas/Arkansas state line. In Texarkana, we have two of almost everything; including two mayors, two police and fire departments, and two sales tax rates. But, as a twin city, we’ve learned to share. Texarkana, Arkansas and Texas share a city library and jointly own an airport in Arkansas and the water utilities in Texas that provide water to both cities.
From history to economic development information, to hotel and restaurant guides, the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce is always the best place to begin your discovery of Texarkana, in-person or on the web at texarkana.org.

If this were a flying tour, as you approach the Ace of Clubs House, you would clearly see that the home is divided into three octagonal or rounded wings and one rectangular wing. This distinct ace of clubs shape was inspired by a card from the winning hand of poker played by James Draughon. Draughon is said to have used the winnings from this legendary hand to construct his dream home in 1885. Recognized nationally for its unique shape. The house is filled with beautiful furnishings from the 1800s thru the 1940s. A personal visit from television star Bob Vila gave the home national attention on Bob Vila’s Guide to Historic Homes of America. The house tells the story of the three families that lived in the home with original furnishings as left by the last family to reside in the home, including a collection of over 500 pairs of Neiman- Marcus shoes. Plans are currently being made to renovate this historic site.

The Texarkana Arkansas Municipal Auditorium is a part of the city hall complex and it’s situated between the city hall offices and the central fire station. Constructed out of grey stone, with a continuous stone foundation, the building was built in 1928 and designed with collegian gothic and art-deco elements. The auditorium has a long history as a unique entertainment venue; hosting musical legends like Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.

The Texarkana, Texas City Hall sits on the corner of Texas Boulevard. and 3rd streets. It was designed by the firm of Witt, Siebert, and Halsey. The City Hall was constructed in 1927 on land originally owned by Anthony L. Ghio, who bought the lots at the sale of city lots in December 1873 that founded the city. The figure at the top center is said to represent Poseidon.

Welcome to the Four States Auto Museum. This eight-thousand square foot facility is the former home of the Texarkana Poultry Association and the grounds also once served as a wagon yard to visitors to downtown traveling by horse and buggy. Photography and automobile memorabilia are on display as well as a rotating exhibit of classic antique automobiles.
This museum is a nonprofit and It was founded to preserve, collect, and exhibit a collection of automobiles. The museum was founded in 2004 and is still growing with the age span around 100 years of vehicles. Vehicles are rotated every three months, so visit often to get the full effect of what is offered at the Four State Auto Museum.

Welcome to the Garrison-McClain House. Built in 1895, the home is located in an area of Texarkana, Arkansas once called “Quality Hill.” Quality Hill was an affluent neighborhood at the turn of the century and showcased at least a dozen extravagant residences. The Garrison-McClain House is the quintessence of Victorian-Queen Ann architecture. Built for attorney Augustus M. Garrison and his wife Mary Adrian McClain, the house was constructed at a time when Texarkana was a new and thriving railroad and lumber center.
The structure has a majestic turret and gingerbread trimmed tower. Traces from the tracks of the once thriving trolley line can still be seen from the home’s second story balcony. In a sad irony, Augustus Garrison met and untimely died in a street car accident in 1911. Mrs. Garrison, a well-read woman with a strong interest in politics, finance, and investment lived in the family home until her death in 1952.

The Hotel Grim was built in 1925 and was known as the Crown Jewel of Texarkana. It was named for industrialist and philanthropist, William Rhodes Grim, who had for years put forth the idea of building a luxury hotel in Texarkana. He passed just before the project started, so it was named in his honor. It cost over $950,000 to build in 1925, which translates to close to $7,000,000 today. It included state rooms, ballrooms, and a rooftop garden on the upper floors and restaurants, newsstands, barbershops and other businesses on the ground floor.
It remained open until 1991, when the last business closed. The last tenant was Pecorella’s barbershop. Mr. Pecorella, who was in his 90s at the time, cried when he had to close.
The $28 million renovation of the building began in 2020 to restore portions of the building, including the grand lobby and the Palm Court Room, and convert the former hotel room floors into modern apartments. The apartments will be priced to be affordable to the general working population of Texarkana which will help in the resurgence of the downtown area.

The historic Jamison Building was built in 1929. It was the first professional building built by and for the African American community. The upper floors were offices for lawyers, doctors, and other professionals. The lower floors were retail businesses, restaurants, and recreation halls. It is still owned by the Jamison family, who are in the process of restoring the building and reopening.

Welcome to Kidtopia. This park was created as a community wide labor of love and designed by kids for kids. It all began with a design day in November of 2003. Students from the four area school systems met with the park designer to share ideas and help design the park features. The final design features miniature versions of area landmarks such as the Ace of Clubs House, the Perot Theatre, and the Stateline Post Office. Over 15 thousand volunteers helped construct the park, which was opened to the public in July 2004.

Just after the Stateline/7th Street Intersection you can see Texarkana’s Korean/Vietnam Memorial. Built as a labor of love through the efforts of the community, the local chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America, and local steel suppliers, brick companies, cement companies, and granite engravers, the monument was dedicated on November 12, 1988. Also featured in the memorial area, is a monument to fallen law-enforcement officers.

Welcome to the Museum of Regional History. Housed in the oldest brick building in Texarkana, the Museum of Regional History was erected in 1879 as Hake’s Bank. It features two floors of exhibits and galleries. Visitors learn first of Texarkana native Scott Joplin, father of ragtime music along with other great musicians from the area. Large galleries allow for changing exhibits throughout the year. Everything from the region’s earliest explorers and residents to current profiles of notable men and women. Also featured are the Caddo Indians, with early original pottery, tools, and jewelry, along with early industry, civil rights, World War II and more. There is much to see and learn about the Twin Cities at the Museum of Regional History. For even more in-depth research, the Wilbur Smith Research Library and Archives, located inside the museum, is open for researchers upon appointment and a research assistant is available. The research library holds a collection of over eleven-thousand rare and one of kind historical documents, books, and photos covering the history of this four-states region.
We mentioned earlier the Museum of Regional History was constructed as a bank. It was a bank on the second floor and a saloon on the first. It was one of a great many saloons in Texarkana in that day. One of particular note was the Paragon Saloon, located where Union Station now stands. On July 12, 1882, a violent storm drove crowds inside the Paragon seeking shelter from the torrential rain. Thirty-Five men lost their lives when lightening ignited a fire that burned the establishment to the ground. An Afro-American fiddler in the house band named Professor Van was supposed to play that evening, but didn’t go into work because of the storm. He viewed his escape from harm as a sign from Providence, and later vowed never to play music in a gambling house again.

The Ahern Home is a 1905, classical revival home made of cast concrete blocks. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 by the Ahern family. The home was only ever owned and occupied by the family who built it. In 2011, after the death of Mrs. Eleanor Ahern-Harrigan, the home was acquired by the Texarkana Museums System to be operated as a museum.

Welcome to Texarkana’s exquisite historic Perot Theatre, known as the most beautiful theatre of the South. From its grand opening in 1924, this theater has played host to some of the greatest performers of the last century, many who landed at this crossroads as they were on their way from here to there, possibly like you. From Orson Wells to Carrie Grant, from Annie Oakley to Ann Murray, from Will Rodgers to Lewis Gizzard, and from Wynton Marsalis to the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra this theatre has allowed Texarkanans and visitors to be treated to world class entertainment for decades. Born as Sanger Theatre and later known as the Paramount Theatre, its audiences have delighted over the years to vaudeville, live dramas, silent movies and talkies, plus world premieres of three movies. No ordinary theatre, this one was chosen of all the possible places in America to host the 5th annual War Bond Drive during World War II. The show was hosted by Orson Welles and a local boy scout named Ross Perot was asked to introduce Treasury Secretary Morgan Thaw. The program was broadcast throughout the US on all three networks.
In the 70s, the Perot family was instrumental in working with the city and the residents as a memorial to their beloved parents to resurrect the theatre to make possible the stunning facility that you see today. In gratitude, the city renamed the theatre “The Perot Theatre” when it reopened in 1981. Today it is indeed a national historic treasure. With its Italian Renaissance styling of gold leaf, marble, regal blues, and chandeliers, the Perot Theatre is a never to be forgotten example of what a visionary community can do. Broadway blockbusters, classical orchestras, world class theatre to classic country, it all happens here. Visit the box office for a peek inside and to find out what’s playing this season at the historic Perot Theatre.

Welcome to the Regional Art Center. The area’s premier facility for national touring art exhibits, the Arts Center also showcases and celebrates the work of regional artists in its beautiful and ever-changing galleries full of activity year round. Come inside and you may find a workshop for teachers or one for kids, master classes for serious artists or wedding, seminars and more. With its extraordinary architectural detail, the Regional Art Center grand Cabe Hall on the second floor is a premiere venue for press conferences and receptions, hosting dignitaries such as George W. Bush, Steven Cubby, Ross Perot, and performers like the Gatlin Brothers, Wynton Marsalis, Livingston Tailor, and more.
This four-level landmark is also home to the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council. The beautiful revival style building was built in 1911 as a US federal courthouse. With its adaptive restoration to an art center in 1985, it began life as a community treasure for area citizens of every age. The Regional Art Center is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 AM until 4 PM and on Saturdays from Noon to 4PM. Take the time to come inside and see outstanding exhibits, ride the original brass caged elevator, walk the historic marble floors, gaze at the beautiful ceilings, tour the galleries, visit the special gift shop, and get details on current and upcoming programs.

Welcome to the Scott Joplin Mural, celebrating another famous son of Texarkana; a Pulitzer Prize winner known throughout the world as the father of ragtime. Joplin was born near Texarkana around 1868 and moved to town as a toddler. As a young boy, he attended the Ore School, which still stands at 831 Laurel. Joplin was from a musical family, learning to play piano at a home near his residence while his mother did domestic work for the family. The square piano he is believed to have learned on is displayed at the nearby Museum of Regional History. In his early teens, Joplin left Texarkana, traveling in Texas and on to Missouri, and finally Chicago where he played for the world’s Colombian Exposition. Joplin eventually attended music school in New York where he mastered composition.
His “Maple Leaf Rag” published in 1899 is estimated to have sold over one million copies, yet Joplin’s life was filled with personal tragedy. Despite all his efforts to have his folk opera Treemonisha produced, it never received a full staging before his death. Set near the Red River, north of Texarkana, Treemonisha is modeled after Joplin’s wife Freddie who died as a very young woman. Joplin himself passed away in April of 1917, only to be rediscovered in the early 1970s with the release of the motion picture “The Sting” which featured Joplin’s lively “Maple Leaf Rag.” In 1976, this Texarkana native was posthumously rewarded a Pulitzer Prize special award for his contribution to American music. Next time you hear one of the familiar strains of one of Joplin’s classic rags as you wait in an airport, you’ll be reminded how more than one Texarkanian has left the world richer.

Sheppard Park is named for U.S. Senator Morriss Sheppard who was from Texarkana, he is best known for co-authoring the Prohibition amendment in 1919. Sheppard Park includes the World War I monument at the North End, with the names of all those soldiers from Bowie and Miller Counties who served in World War I. A time capsule was buried here in 1973 by the Centennial Committee. In 2023, the capsule was opened to reveal historic artifacts from 50 years prior. To celebrate the city's sesquicentennial, a time capsule is being buried for the bi-centennial celebration.

Welcome to the State Line Post Office and Federal Building of downtown Texarkana. Completed in 1933, the building straddles the state line of Arkansas and Texas. The building you see today was constructed to replace the original post office that had occupied the same site since 1892. An act of the U.S. Congress was necessary in order for the original building to be constructed on the state line. This new federal building is constructed on a foundation of pink Texas granite with a façade of Arkansas limestone. It stands today as the only United States post office located in two states. For this reason, the post office was assigned two zip codes. This federal building houses two federal courts with judges and clerks authorized to serve in both states. The post office is also said to house a number of crawlspaces and peepholes, long ago used by postal inspectors to spy on unwitting employees. Since its construction, the State Line Post Office continues to be one of the most photographed post offices in the country, according to some sources, second only to the Supreme Court in Washington DC. Visit the Photographers Island on the front southern side of the building right now and join in a tradition that has included such famous names as John F Kennedy. Have a photo taken of yourself standing in two states at once. Photographer’s Island was created in the late 1950s to address the hazard of tourists standing in the middle of the street to take their picture in front of the Post Office.
As you circle the State Line Post Office, you will notice other memorials surrounding it. These include a World War I memorial, and a Confederate monument with Italian carved figures, constructed in 1918 at the cost of nearly thirty-thousand dollars and paid for, almost entirely, by Captain James T Ross Perot, a CSA veteran captain who resided in Texarkana, Texas.
The Courthouse Square Connections Project is a dual city effort to increase walkability and enhance the area around the existing United States Post Office and Federal Courthouse. The goals of the Courthouse Square renovations were to improve pedestrian and vehicle safety, enhance the area with new tourist kiosk, public art, expanded green space, and added areas for food truck vendors. The project also featured the preservation of history by reclaiming a portion of the original brick streets and highlighting the historical features of the building.

The Texarkana Public Library has its origins back in the early 1990s, when the Texarkana YWCA began a collection of books for community use. The first public library building was the Henry Harper home at 7th Street and Stateline. In 1952, a new public library was opened in the James Bowie Park located on Stateline just behind the Chamber of Commerce building. The current Texarkana library opened its doors on January 28th 1980 and has been serving the Texarkana community ever since.

Located outside, just to the left of the Regional Arts Center is the Arts Park. The Arts Park is home to permanent and touring artwork installations. It was envisioned as a green space to relax in and enjoy downtown. If you look along the wall at sidewalk level, you will see a mosaic as well. Together, TRAHC and Norton & Wood law firm came together to make this a space for public art exhibits.

Back in 1894 when the building was built, it operated as the “Texas Produce Company.” They were the produce vendor for the area, bringing produce from the train and distributed to mom and pop grocery stores until 1926. The building was then sold to the Richie Brothers who managed it as a wholesale grocer, then later it became a retail store. The establishment closed in 1979.
This building is also the only Romanesque Revival building left; all others got demolished to establish the building you see today.
In 2017, David Peavey bought the property to restore it into a multipurpose facility. Currently the building houses apartments, offices, event space, The Gallery at 1894, Olive Street Vintiques, 1923 Banana Club, and the Blessing Allison Photography Studio.

The name is taken from the Silver Moon hotel that was originally located in the 2-story part of the building. The three buildings that comprise the Silvermoon on Broad were built about 1885 and are some of the oldest buildings still standing on the Texas-side of Broad Street. It was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 by Judge Josh Morriss and Diana Morris, who had a vision that they have been able to see to reality. This project sparked interest in other downtown buildings and led the way for many more restoration projects.

The TXK Mural is a stunning outdoor art installation located in the heart of Texarkana, Arkansas. Stretching across a massive wall in the downtown area, this vibrant mural is a celebration of the city's rich history and culture. The mural features a dynamic array of colors and shapes, depicting iconic landmarks, local flora and fauna, and scenes from everyday life in Texarkana. Created by a team of talented local artists, the TXK Mural has become a beloved symbol of community pride and unity. Visitors are invited to take a stroll through the downtown area to admire this impressive piece of public art and learn more about the stories and traditions that define Texarkana. Whether you're a longtime resident or just passing through, the TXK Mural is sure to leave a lasting impression on all who encounter its beauty and significance.

It is much debated who named Texarkana. The popular version credits Colonel Gus Nobel, who surveyed this region for the Iron Mountain Railroad. The story goes that Colonel Nobel wrote Texarkana on a board, nailed it to a tree, and remarked that this was the name of the town which was going to be built here. He believed he was at, or near, the spot where the borders of Texas and Arkansas and Louisiana met. The Louisiana border is actually about twenty-five miles south, but the name Texarkana remained unchanged.
Union Station is one of only 3 buildings in Texarkana that straddle the state line.This Beaux-Arts style building was completed in 1928 and cost a little over $1,000,000 – a huge sum at that time. Its grand opening was attended by international dignitaries such as the president of Mexico.It was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and still has active freight and passenger service daily. A small bit of popularity comes from the fact that, when a train stops here, it is actively in Texas and Arkansas. In the 1870s, that would have been illegal. Arkansas state law required that trains stop at the border for 30 minutes before continuing.