Texarkana Union Station - Texarkana, TX
Posted by: 
JimmyEv
N 33° 25.222 W 094° 02.588
15S E 403017 N 3698376
A grand Renaissance railroad station straddling the border of Arkansas and Texas.
Waymark Code: WM13RA
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/05/2007
Views: 29
If there ever was a railroad town, Texarkana would be it. The city was founded by railroad companies. The Texas and Pacific Railroad built a line running from Dallas to Texarkana in 1873. At the end of their line, they built a town, Texarkana, Texas. The Cairo and Fulton Railroad built a line running from St. Louis to Texarkana in 1874. At the end of their line, they built a town, Texarkana, Arkansas. The two lines met in a station on the state line, at Texarkana, Arkansas-Texas.
By 1930, three other lines ran to Texarkana, the Kansas City Southern, the Cotton Belt, and the Missouri Pacific. A 67,000-square-foot Union Station was built to accommodate the growing number of rail passengers. EM Tucker, the architect, designed a renaissance building with five bays, centered on the Arkansas-Texas state line. The central bay projects forward, with each side wing stepping progressively down and back. Over time the growing number of rail passengers turned into a declining number of rail passengers, and most of the station has been abandoned. Amtrak still uses a small portion of the station for the Texas Eagle, but most of the building is in desperate need of restoration.
