Discover 11 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Texarkana (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Ace of Clubs House, Museum of Regional History, and Texarkana. Also, be sure to include Four States Auto Museum in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Texarkana (Texas).
Table of Contents
Ace of Clubs House
Museum in Texarkana, Texas. The Ace of Clubs House is a historic house museum in Texarkana, Texas. The house is distinctively shaped like a club, from a deck of playing cards, with three octagon-shaped wings and a fourth rectangular wing adjoining at a central octagon-shaped stair hall. The structure was built in 1885 as a private residence, in an Italianate Victorian architectural style. The design resulted in the house having 22 sides. The two-story house also features a 20-foot tower and a spiral staircase.
According to local lore, it was shaped as a club because its builder and original owner, Confederate veteran, lumberman, and early Texarkana mayor James Draughon, built it with $10,000 that he won in a game of poker with an ace of clubs. Three families have lived in the house. In 1887, William Lowndes Whitaker, Sr. acquired the building. Whitaker lived in it until 1894, when he sold it to an attorney named Henry Moore, Sr. Henry Moore, Jr. and Tyler native Olivia Smith, his wife, moved into the house in 1920. After Moore, Jr. died in 1942, his widow remained in the house until her own death in 1985, at which point it was deeded to the Texarkana Museum System in her will. The house was refurbished in 1987, and it began operating as a museum in 1988. Each room was restored to represent a different time period in the history of the house, spanning from 1880 to 1940.
The Ace of Clubs House caters to business and club meetings, lawn parties, portrait photography, receptions, and weddings. In 2016, the house's lawn hosted the Texarkana Museums System's Moonlight & Movies classic film series. The house has also hosted a Victorian Christmas celebration.
The Ace of Clubs House has been featured on the HGTV television program Christmas Castles. It is both a property on the National Register of Historic Places and a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.[1]
Address: 420 Pine St, 75501-5513 Texarkana
Museum of Regional History
Museum in Texarkana, Texas. The Museum of Regional History is a local history museum in Texarkana, Texas. It is the first and oldest museum in the Texarkana metropolitan area; it was established in 1971. It is located in the Offenhauser Insurance Building, which was built in 1879, making it the oldest brick building in the city.
The Museum of Regional History narrates the history of the region, from its indigenous Caddo people and early Spanish and French explorers, to its agriculture and early industry, to its relationship to railroads, World War II, and the civil rights movement. Its Caddo collections include jewelry, pottery, and tools as well as rare images. Its most prominent collection documents the region's musical history, which includes Scott Joplin (widely recognized as the "Father of Ragtime"), Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, and Conlon Nancarrow. This collection emphasizes jazz and folk music, and includes one of Joplin's pianos. The museum also has an exhibit on Texas Congressman Wright Patman.
The Museum of Regional History additionally houses the Wilbur Smith Research Library and Archives, which holds photographs and research materials, including rare books and other documents. The archives also includes the Texarkana city directory collection and Pioneer History files.
The museum is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is also both a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.[2]
Address: 219 N State Line Ave, 75501-5606 Texarkana
Texarkana
City government office in Texarkana, Arkansas. The Municipal Building of Texarkana, Arkansas, is located at Walnut and Third Streets in the downtown of the city. It was built between 1927 and 1930 to a design by Witt, Seibert & Halsey, which has elements of the Collegiate Gothic and Art Deco styles. The building houses a large auditorium in the center, with city offices in one wing and the main fire station in the other. It also houses the city jail. The building is located about three blocks from the state line with Texarkana, Texas. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.[3]
Four States Auto Museum
The Four States Auto Museum is an automobile museum in Texarkana, Arkansas. It was established in 2004 and chartered as a 501 organization in the State of Arkansas. The museum is located on a site formerly used for wagon and automobile body construction.
The Four States Auto Museum's mission is to "preserve, collect, exhibit, operate, and interpret a collection of antique automobiles" and related archival documents. Its collections span 100 years of automotive history and include over 20 automobiles that are displayed on a rotating basis, generally for periods of three to six months. At any one time, the museum has approximately 15 cars on display, as well as a few motorcycles and a variety of automobilia. Among the highlights of the collection are a Civil War vintage horse-drawn hearse, a Ford Model T and Model A, a Nash Metropolitan, a Studebaker dragster, and a 2015 Chevrolet Corvette. The museum also maintains a collection of automotive-related books, newsletters, and periodicals.
The Four States Auto Museum hosts an annual car show in conjunction with Texarkana's RailFest, as well as the annual Fall Fun Car Show & Swap Meet, both of which serve as fundraisers for it. The museum also hosts various educational events, parties, school tours, and weddings.[4]
Texarkana College
Community college in Texarkana, Texas. Texarkana College is a public community college in Texarkana, Texas.[5]
Address: 2500 N Robison Rd, 75599 Texarkana
Canaan Baptist Church
Building in Texarkana, Arkansas. The Canaan Baptist Church is a historic church at the junction of Laurel and 10th Streets in Texarkana, Arkansas. The single-story brick church was built in 1929 for an African-American congregation established in 1883. The building was designed by S. C. Cox, and exhibits Colonial Revival styling with some Gothic details, primarily in its pointed-arch windows.
The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[6]
Address: 1002 Laurel St, 71854-4961 Texarkana
P. J. Ahern Home
The Patrick J. Ahern House is a historic house located at 403 Laurel Street in Texarkana, Arkansas.[7]
Address: 403 Laurel St, 71854-5234 Texarkana
Texarkana metropolitan area
US Core Based Statistical Area. The Texarkana metropolitan statistical area, as defined by the United States Office of Management and Budget, is a two-county region anchored by the twin cities of Texarkana, Texas, and Texarkana, Arkansas, and encompassing the surrounding communities in Bowie County, Texas, and Miller County, Arkansas. As of the 2016 census, the MSA had a population of 150,098. Texarkana is a subset of the broader Ark-La-Tex region.[8]
United States Post Office and Courthouse
The United States Post Office and Courthouse, also known as Texarkana U.S. Post Office and Federal Building and as Texarkana U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, is located on State Line Avenue in Texarkana, straddling the border between Arkansas and Texas. It is a courthouse of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
The building was built in 1933 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
The first courthouse built on this location was completed in 1892, serving as a courthouse until 1911, when it was succeeded by the erection of a separate courthouse entirely in Texas. The Texas-only courthouse later became the Texarkana Regional Arts Center. The earlier, border-straddling building continued to serve the Arkansas district alone until it was razed in 1930 to make way for the new construction, which was completed in 1933.[9]
Claude Fouke House
The Claude Fouke House was a historic house at 501 Pecan Street in Texarkana, Arkansas. It was a two-story brick structure with a hip roof, set on a raised corner lot. It was one of the city's most elaborate Classical Revival structures, with a monumental temple front supported by pairs of fluted Ionic columns rising the full height of the facade. The roof had an elaborate modillioned cornice, with a small triangular pediment containing a half-round window. The interior of the house contained equally impressive woodwork. The house was built in 1903 by Claude Fouke, the son of railroad baron George Fouke.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
After a 28-month period of intentional demolition by neglect by the owner, Beech Street First Baptist Church, the structure was demolished and the debris removed in March 2022.[10]
Ritchie Grocery Building
The Ritchie Grocery Building is a historic commercial building at Front and Olive Streets in Texarkana, Arkansas. It is a two-story brick and masonry building with a flat roof and a parapet along the main facade. It was built in 1894 by Francis Mullins, owner of the Texas Produce Company, the first major grocery wholesaler in the city, founded in 1884. It is the only surviving Romanesque Revival building in downtown Texarkana, and the building was purchased by the Ritchie Grocery Company in 1926. The building was purchased in 2017 by 1894 LLC and is being renovated to its original glory. The name of the building was changed to 1894 City Market, 1894CityMarket. An art gallery is housed on the first floor, an event room on the second floor, and loft apartments on the third.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[11]