The trek has arrived in
Texarkana
One city, two states — Arkansas on your left, Texas on your right.
Most towns sit in one state. Texarkana refuses to choose. The Texas–Arkansas line runs straight down the middle of State Line Avenue, splitting the downtown — and the city — neatly in two. You can buy a coffee in Texas, cross the street, and mail a letter in Arkansas. Here's what to see, eat and know if you've got a day or two to look around.
Stand in two states at once
The post office on the line
Texarkana's grand federal building straddles the border so precisely that it carries two ZIP codes — 75501 on the Texas side, 71854 on the Arkansas side. Out front, Photographer's Island is a marked spot in the pavement where you can be snapped with one foot in each state. It's the photo every visitor takes.
The building (completed 1933) is Beaux-Arts with Art Deco touches, built of gray Arkansas limestone on a base of Texas pink granite — even the materials come from both sides.
A railroad town with a portmanteau name
Texarkana was born on December 8, 1873, where the railroads building west from Arkansas met the railhead pushing up from Texas. The name is a mash-up you can read straight off the map: TEXas + ARKansas + LouisiANA.
The split runs all the way to City Hall: the Texas side sits in Bowie County, the Arkansas side in Miller County, each with its own mayor, police and schools. The locals just call the whole thing Texarkana, U.S.A. — and the water tower out by the interstate sums up the civic mood: “Twice as Nice.”
Famous sons
The King of Ragtime grew up here
Scott Joplin — composer of The Entertainer and Maple Leaf Rag — spent his childhood in Texarkana in a musical railroad family. (Historians put his actual birth a little to the west, around 1868, but Texarkana is where the King of Ragtime was raised.) A downtown mural on Main Street honors him.
Two more Texarkana natives: billionaire and two-time presidential candidate H. Ross Perot (born here in 1930), and avant-garde composer Conlon Nancarrow (born 1912 on the Arkansas side).
What to see
Ace of Clubs House
An 1885 Italianate Victorian like no other: three octagonal wings and one rectangular wing around a central stair hall, so the floor plan forms a club suit. Legend says owner James Draughon built it with poker winnings from a lucky draw of the ace of clubs. Now a house-museum you can tour.
Perot Theatre
Opened in 1924 as the Saenger, this lavish downtown theatre was rescued from demolition in the late 1970s. Hometown billionaire Ross Perot and his sister Bette led the restoration; it reopened in 1980, renamed for their parents, and still hosts live performances today.
Museum of Regional History
The metro area's oldest museum (opened 1971), set in the 1879 Offenhauser Building — the oldest brick building in town. Inside: a Scott Joplin exhibit, a re-creation of native-son Congressman Wright Patman's office, and artifacts from the long-gone Hotel Grim. It anchors the Texarkana Museums System downtown.
Spring Lake Park
Texarkana's longtime green retreat — a spring-fed lake with two fishing piers, a 1.75-mile walking-and-biking trail, an 18-hole disc-golf course, and the usual picnic lawns and playgrounds. An easy place to stretch your legs.
Where to eat
Barbecue first
This is East Texas / South Arkansas country, which means smoke and brisket. Big Jake's Bar-B-Que is the dependable local name, with a location on each side of the line — chopped beef, ribs and sweet tea, no fuss.
A heritage note: ask any old-timer about food here and they'll mention Bryce's Cafeteria, a beloved institution from 1931 — but it closed in 2017, so it lives on in stories (and a museum exhibit) rather than on your plate.
If you've got a spare day
💎 Crater of Diamonds State Park (~1.5 hrs) — the only diamond mine in the world where the public can dig and keep what they find. People really do walk out with gems.
🌳 Caddo Lake (~1 hr) — a dreamlike maze of bald-cypress and Spanish moss on the Texas side, made for a paddle.
♨️ Hot Springs, AR (~2 hrs) — historic bathhouse row and a national park, if you don't mind a longer drive.
Watch
Sources. U.S. GSA; Encyclopedia of Arkansas; Texas State Historical Association; U.S. Census; Wikipedia. Population figures: 2020 U.S. Census.
MobTreks · a stop on the Southern trek.