Texarkana Union Station

Texarkana Union Station is a historic train station in the Texarkana metropolitan area serving Amtrak, the United States' national passenger rail system. The Arkansas-Texas border bisects the structure; the eastern part, including the waiting room and ticket office, are in Texarkana, Arkansas, but the western part is in Texarkana, Texas, meaning stopped trains span both states. The station was built in 1928 and was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Today it is the second busiest Amtrak station in Arkansas.^[3]

Texarkana Union Station
Texarkana station platform in February 2017 for Amtrak. The union station is on the right.
General information
Location	100 East Front Street Texarkana, Arkansas United States
Owned by	Jeff Sandefur
Platforms	1 side platform
Tracks	2
Connections	Texarkana Urban Transit District
Construction
Parking	Yes
Bicycle facilities	Yes
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	Amtrak: TXA
History
Opened	1930
Passengers
FY 2023	5,293[1] (Amtrak)
Services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Marshall toward Los Angeles or San Antonio Texas Eagle Hope toward Chicago
Former services Preceding station Amtrak Following station Marshall toward Laredo or Houston Inter-American Malvern toward Chicago Preceding station Kansas City Southern Railway Following station Ogden toward Kansas City Main Line Draper toward Port Arthur Preceding station Missouri Pacific Railroad Following station Terminus Texarkana – St. Louis Homan toward St. Louis Preceding station St. Louis Southwestern Railway Following station Redwater toward Gatesville Main Line Genoa toward St. Louis
Texarkana Union Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	State Line and Front St., Texarkana, Texas
Coordinates	33°25′12″N 94°2′33″W
Area	less than one acre
Built	1928 (1928)
Architect	E.M. Tucker, A.B. Butterworth
Architectural style	Renaissance
MPS	Historic Railroad Depots of Arkansas MPS
NRHP reference No.	78000611[2]
Added to NRHP	November 19, 1978
Location

History

Texarkana Union Station was constructed and operated by Union Station Trust, a subsidiary organization created as a joint effort between the Missouri-Pacific, Texas & Pacific, Cotton Belt and Kansas City Southern railroads. E. M. Tucker, chief architect for Missouri Pacific, designed the building with a track layout and overhead concourse reminiscent of the style he had used when rebuilding Little Rock Union Depot after a 1921 fire.

The present structure replaced an earlier Texarkana station on the same site, and was opened for business on April 17, 1930, with a large celebration and dedication held on May 12, 1930, according to Missouri Pacific Lines Magazine, June 1930. The station and the federal courthouse anchor the south and north ends of State Line Avenue, the dividing line between Arkansas and Texas. In 1876, Congress mandated that the Texarkana railroad station would straddle the state line, and the building has entrances and exits into both states. Missouri Pacific and Texas and Pacific, the two carriers with the most passenger trains serving Texarkana Union Station, were able to operate through the facility without a backup move. Kansas City Southern and Cotton Belt passenger trains both made back-up moves to access the station.

Provisions were made in the original station design for a restaurant, but as a result of the Great Depression, the only food service was provided by a snack bar and news stand.

The station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.^[2]

In April 2023, the Arkansas-side Board of Directors approved $200,000 toward purchasing and redeveloping the station.^[4]

Filming

In 1976, the station was used for multiple locations in Charles B. Pierce's movie, The Town That Dreaded Sundown.

Named trains serving Texarkana Union Station

The following are notable cases of trains making stop in past years at Union Station:

• Missouri Pacific Railroad and Texas and Pacific Railway
  • Sunshine Special
  • Texas Eagle
  • Texan
  • Westerner
• Kansas City Southern
  • Flying Crow
  • Southern Belle
• Cotton Belt
  • Lone Star
  • Morning Star
• Amtrak
  • Inter-American
  • Texas Eagle (originally Eagle; only one currently in service)

Mail and express service

Postal cancellation applied to letters worked by the Texarkana, Arkansas, Terminal RPO in November 1924.

Old Amtrak sign at the side entrance of Texarkana Union Station on the southwest corner of Front and Pine Streets in Arkansas.

During the heyday of private railroad passenger train service, Texarkana served as a major distribution point for mail and express, and a large Terminal Railway Post Office was located in and adjacent to the station. In addition, express cars originating at such distant points as New York City were routed to Texarkana, where the shipments were sorted for transportation in different trains to their final destination.

See also

• Arkansas portal

• List of Amtrak stations
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Miller County, Arkansas
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Bowie County, Texas

References

Citations

1. "Amtrak Fact Sheet, Fiscal Year 2023: State of Arkansas" (PDF). Amtrak. March 2024. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
3. Amtrak, State of Arkansas factsheet, Fiscal Year 2019, page 1 https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/projects/dotcom/english/public/documents/corporate/statefactsheets/ARKANSAS19.pdf
4. Bischof, Greg (17 April 2023). "Arkansas side approves $200K contribution for Union Station project". Texarkana Gazette. Retrieved 5 May 2023.

Further reading

• Potter, Janet Greenstein (1996). Great American Railroad Stations. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-14389-8.

External links

• Texarkana, AR – Amtrak
• Texarkana, AR – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)
• Amtrak Texas Eagle Stations - Texarkana, AR Archived 2007-08-14 at the Wayback Machine
• Texarkana Amtrak Station (USA Rail Guide -- Train Web)
• Texarkana Union Station (Cotton Belt Railway website)
• OAG Travel Information (Texarkana Union Station)
• Flickr Photo