Texarkana metropolitan area

This article is about the Texarkana metropolitan area. For other uses, see Texarkana (disambiguation).

"Texarcana" redirects here. For the graphic novel, see Tex Arcana.

Texarkana USA
—  City  —
Texarkana Post Office, located in two states.
Nickname(s): TXK, T-Town, TK
Motto: A City So Great It Took Two States
Coordinates: 33°26′14″N 94°4′3″W
Country	United States
State	Arkansas, Texas
List of counties in the United States	Bowie County, Texas, Miller County, Arkansas
Government
• Texarkana, Texas Mayor	Steve Mayo
• Texarkana, Arkansas Mayor	N. Wayne Smith
Elevation	299 ft (91 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	143,027
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
ZIP codes	75500-75599 (TX); 71854 (AR)
Area code(s)	Area code 903, 430 (TX) 870 (AR)
FIPS code	48-72368
GNIS feature ID	1369752

The Texarkana, TX-Texarkana, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), 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 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 143,027.

History

Map of the city in 1888

Texarkana

Texarkana was founded in 1873 on the junction of two railroads. The name is a portmanteau of TEXas, ARKansas, and nearby LouisiANA. One tradition tells of a Red River steamboat named The Texarkana, circa 1860. Another story mentions a storekeeper named Swindle in Red Land, Louisiana who concocted a drink called "Texarkana Bitters". A third account states that Col. Gus Knobel, a railroad surveyor, coined the name. Local lore suggests that, before Texas' annexation by the US, lawlessness ruled in the area that at times was claimed by various nations.

In 1876, Texarkana, Texas, was granted a charter under an act of the Texas legislature, and a Texarkana, Texas, post office operated from 1886 to 1892. Later, Congressman John Morris Sheppard (D-TX) secured a postal order officially changing the name to "Texarkana, Arkansas-Texas".

Texarkana metropolitan area

The Texarkana metropolitan area was first defined in 1960. Then known as the Texarkana, TX–Texarkana, AR Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area, it consisted of Bowie County, Texas and Miller County, Arkansas. In 1963, the area was renamed the Texarkana, TX–AR Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area, only to return to its original name in 1971.

Little River County, Arkansas, was added to the SMSA in 1973. In 1983, the official name was shortened to the Texarkana, TX–Texarkana, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is still in use. That same year, Little River County was removed from the MSA. The two-county MSA had a population of 137,486 in 2000.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 137,486 people, 72,695 households, and 55,524 families residing within the MSA. The racial makeup of the MSA was 53.49% White, 43.28% African American, 0.60% Native American, 0.41% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.94% from other races, and 1.24% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.57% of the population.

The median income for a household in the MSA was $31,976, and the median income for a family was $38,887. Males had a median income of $32,482versus $21,408 for females. The per capita income for the MSA was $16,901.

Economy

Texarkana's top employers

2010 comprehensive annual financial report

Employer	Local employees
Red River Army Depot & Tenants	7200
Christus St. Michael Health System	1883
Cooper Tire & Rubber	1700
Domtar	1300
Texarkana (TX) Independent School District	1100
Walmart	967
International Paper	960
Texarkana (AR) School District	835
Wadley Regional Medical Center	778
Southern Refrigerated Transport	750

Texarkana began as a railroad and lumber center, and developed in the 20th century as a regional agricultural processing, retail, wholesale, and service center. Red River Army Depot and Lone Star Army Ammunition Depot were the largest regional employers from the 1940s through the 1970s. Paper mills near Ashdown and Atlanta, as well as other industrial facilities, brought new jobs to the area in the 1970s. Today the Texarkana area is a diversified economy whose pattern of employment categorized by industry is very similar to the entire state of Arkansas.

Geography

Texarkana's Federal Building/Post Office is located in the median between northbound and southbound traffic on State Line Avenue.

For demographic information, see Texarkana, Arkansas and Texarkana, Texas.

Texarkana consists of two separate municipal designations:

• Texarkana, Arkansas, the county seat of Miller County, Arkansas
• Texarkana, Texas, located in Bowie County, Texas

State Line Avenue follows the Texas-Arkansas state line throughout much of Texarkana. The two "sides" of Texarkana are separate only from a political standpoint. Thousands of locals actually live in one state and work in the other.

Owing to its divided political nature, Texarkana has two mayors and two sets of city officials; however, the two sides share a federal building, courthouse, jail, post office, labor office, chamber of commerce, water utility, and several other offices.

Transportation

Texarkana is on Interstate 30, located close to halfway between Dallas, Texas, and Little Rock, Arkansas. Other major routes in Texarkana include:

• U.S. Route 59
• U.S. Route 67
• U.S. Route 71
• U.S. Route 82
• The Loop (consisting of US 59, as well as Texas State Highway Loop 151 and Arkansas Highway 245)

As of October 2010, multiple highway projects are in progress to expand area highways and relieve strain on the Richmond Rd. and Summerhill Rd. exits. Continuous access roads, expanded bridges, and a new I-30/US 59 interchange are under construction. I-49 is being extended from Shreveport, with a future extension planned to Kansas City in the US 71 corridor.

Culture and education

Notable historical buildings in Texarkana include the post office and federal building that straddles the state line, the Ace of Clubs House, The Perot (Theater), and the Regional Museum. One of the most famous houses in Texarkana is The Aces of Clubs House, shaped like a club on a playing card and supposedly inspired by a winning poker hand.

The Texarkana Symphony Orchestra was established in 2005, providing the community with several professional concerts of classical music every year. In 2007, the Texarkana Youth Symphony Orchestra was established, presenting spring and winter concerts.

Texarkana College is a community college whose origins date to 1927. In 1971, East Texas State University began offering classes at the campus, an institution that later became Texas A&M University–Texarkana. A large new campus for the institution is under construction north of the city.

Local lore

Owing perhaps to its nature as a divided city and its remoteness from large urban areas, Texarkana has long been known as a hotbed for ghost stories, mysteries, and other colorful local lore. However, most of them are untrue.

The Phantom Killer

Main article: The Phantom Killer

In 1946, Texarkana was the site of one of America's first widely-publicized serial murders, in which five people were killed and several others injured by an unknown assailant. Dubbed the "Texarkana Moonlight Murders" by news media, the violence focused on couples occupying popular "make-out" spots in and around the town, such as back roads and "lovers' lanes". The only description of the killer was that he carried a handgun and wore a mask. The case was never solved and the spree ended with no suspects arrested.

Yuell Lee Swinney, who was 29 at the time, was arrested but released. He was later released from prison in 1974 after serving 28 years for the theft of a car and other crimes, but he was never convicted of any murders. He had been implicated by his wife who claimed she was present when he had committed the murders, yet her accounts of the incidents varied over several tellings. Swinney himself denied having any involvement—a denial he maintained until his death in 1993 at age 76 in a prison hospital (where he had been held for counterfeiting and other crimes). Many believe nevertheless that he was the murderer, including several of his prison inmates who claimed Swinney had confessed to them^{[citation needed]}. His sister, Mildred Swinney-Sones, also believed he had committed the murders.^{[citation needed]}.

These events inspired the film The Town That Dreaded Sundown, released in 1977, written and directed by Charles B. Pierce, and starring Ben Johnson, Dawn Wells, and Pierce himself. Some of the facts of the original case were fictionalized or altered for the film, including victims' names.

In recent years, most area police and sheriffs' records of the case were discovered by investigative journalists to be mysteriously missing. No active files of the cases are currently being maintained by area law-enforcement agencies. Some locals believe that the Phantom Killer died long ago; some claim that he was a member of the local upper class aristocracy, which collaborated to keep his identity quiet to avoid scandal. Local lore maintains that he was more a supernatural force than a human being, and that he will return one day to resume his bloody deeds^{[citation needed]}. Technically the case is still open, though as of 2006 it is considered cold. If the killer is still alive, considering when the crimes took place, he would likely have been born circa 1928 at the latest, which means he would be in his eighties today.

Fouke Monster

The swampy terrain of Boggy Creek, near Fouke, Arkansas, a small Miller County town southeast of Texarkana, is the reputed home of an anthropoid cryptid similar in appearance and behavior to the Pacific Northwest's Bigfoot and Sasquatch, and to the Skunk Ape of Florida legend. A film dramatizing these stories, entitled The Legend of Boggy Creek, was released in 1972. Two sequels, Return to Boggy Creek (1977) and The Barbaric Beast of Boggy Creek, Part II (1985) (AKA Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues; the "official" sequel made by the original film's director, Charles B. Pierce) followed with very little commercial success (although The Barbaric Beast of Boggy Creek, Part II was featured in the tenth season of Mystery Science Theater 3000). Locals commonly refer to this creature as the "Fouke Monster" and a number of persons have reported seeing the creature in various locations in and around Fouke. Most of the reported sightings have occurred during the hours of darkness, which has contributed to the lack of adequate descriptions of the creature itself.

Notable people from Texarkana

See also: Category:People from Texarkana

• Lindsey Rayl, (actress/singer/songwriter)
• Charlie Oakes, (Philanthropist)
• Scott Joplin, (childhood home)
• Joshua Logan, Broadway & Film director, writer, & lyricist. Co-wrote South Pacific
• Conlon Nancarrow, composer
• Pilotdrift, Indie band
• Otis Williams, Singer from The Temptations
• Jeff Keith, Lead Vocals for Tesla
• Charles B Pierce, Movie Director and Producer
• Corinne Griffith, Silent-Film Star
• Molly Quinn, Actress
• Rod Smith, Denver Broncos-wide receiver
• Nathan Vasher, Chicago Bears-defensive back
• Eric Warfield, Kansas City Chiefs
• Ike Forte, former University of Arkansas Running Back
• Brandon Jones, San Francisco 49ers-wide receiver
• Ryan Mallett, University of Arkansas quarterback
• Tra Carson, University of Oregon running back
• LaMichael James, University of Oregon running back
• Eddie Matthews, Hall of Fame Major League Baseball player
• Craig Monroe, Minnesota Twins-outfielder
• Edwin Hooper, Rice University linebacker
• Bob Moose, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher
• Will Middlebrooks, A member of the Boston Red Sox organization
• Drew Stubbs, Cincinnati Reds center fielder
• Parnelli Jones, race car driver
• Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas
• Bill Rogers, golfer, winner of 1981 British Open
• Miller Barber, professional golfer
• Dan Blocker, Television/Movie Star - most notable on Bonanza, born in nearby Dekalb, Texas
• Jeremiah Trotter, American football player
• Ross Perot, Politician and Entrepreneur
• Pocket Full of Rocks, Christian Rock band
• David Crowder, Christian Contemporary musician
• Dustin Moseley, Pitcher for the San Diego Padres
• Byron Nelson, legendary golfer and former club pro at Texarkana Country Club

References

• Metropolitan statistical areas and metropolitan divisions defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, December 2003 [1]
• Texarkana, Texas fact sheet from the U.S. Census Bureau
• Texarkana, Arkansas fact sheet from the U.S. Census Bureau
• Texarkana Chamber of Commerce 2006-2007 Community Profile (in PDF format)

John Goforth. Record Producer, Guitarist, Composer, Owner of Covered Bridge Records, Third Millennium Artists. Producer of the Stateline Music Fetival.

External links

• TxkUSA.org, official web site for Texarkana, USA
• Texarkana Conventions and Visitors Bureau
• Texarkana Symphony Orchestra