Texarkana metropolitan area

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, c. 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.[6] Local lore suggests that, before Texas's 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 Morris Sheppard (D-TX) secured a postal order officially changing the name to "Texarkana, Arkansas-Texas".[6]

The Texarkana metropolitan area was first defined in 1960.[7] 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,[8] only to return to its original name in 1971.[9]

Little River County, Arkansas, was added to the SMSA in 1973.[10] In 1983, the official name was shortened to the Texarkana, TX–Texarkana, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is still in use.[11] That same year, Little River County was removed from the MSA. The two-county MSA had a population of 137,486 in 2000.

Texarkana Regional Airport[15] is located inside the northeastern city limits and is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a primary commercial service airport.

The airport covers an area of 964 acres (390 ha) at an elevation of 390 feet (119 m) above mean sea level and it has two runways with asphalt surfaces:

• Runway 4/22 is 6,601 by 144 feet (2,012 x 44 m)
• Runway 13/31 is 5,200 by 100 feet (1,585 x 30 m)

Major routes in Texarkana include:

• Interstate 30
• Interstate 49
• U.S. Route 59
• U.S. Route 67
• U.S. Route 71
• U.S. Route 82
• Loop (Texarkana)

As of October 2015, new interchanges had been completed at the junctions of I-30/US 59, and I-30/I-49. Interstate 49 had been extended south to Shreveport with its northern extension planned into Kansas City along the U.S. Route 71 corridor. Multiple projects were under construction to relieve the strain on local roadways, including continuous access roads and the expansion of area highways and bridges.

Rail service in Texarkana is provided by:

• Amtrak's Texas Eagle, which stops at Texarkana Union Station
• Kansas City Southern Railway
• Texas Northeastern Railroad
• Union Pacific Railroad

In 1946, Texarkana was in fear of an unidentified serial killer who attacked eight people, five of whom were murdered. The term "serial killer" wasn't around yet, but the town knew they were dealing with an unknown killer who was attacking couples on "lovers' lanes". The local paper dubbed him "The Phantom Killer". The attacks became known as the "Texarkana Moonlight Murders" by the news media. Since the killer was never identified or apprehended, the description of the killer came from the only two survivors. They described their attacker as six foot tall with a white mask over his head with holes cut out for his eyes and mouth. He had a pistol and a flashlight. They disagreed on his race. One survivor thought he was a light-skinned African American while the other thought he was a dark-tanned Caucasian man.

The attacks inspired the film The Town That Dreaded Sundown, released in 1976. It was written and directed by Charles B. Pierce, a former Texarkanan who played the comedic role as officer A.C. Benson, a clumsy patrolman. The movie also starred Ben Johnson, Andrew Prine and Dawn Wells. Most of the facts of the original case were fictionalized which created much of the myth and lore for several years. Many of the rumors are still believed and spread by locals. One of the more prominent rumors is that blood-stained clothing hidden by The Phantom was found in a school attic many years after the crime spree. This was, however, only a rumor.[16]

Over the years the case files from both police departments went missing.[17] All official files, photographs, evidence and notes are now lost. Some locals believe that the Phantom Killer died long ago, while some think he may still be alive. Some claim that he was a member of the local upper class aristocracy, which collaborated to keep his identity quiet to avoid scandal. The case was never solved and is therefore still open.

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 or 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) (a.k.a. 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 10th 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. The Fouke Monster's credibility is generally doubted.[18][19][20]

• Historic Texarkana by Beverly J. Rowe
• Images of Texarkana: A Visual History (1873–1990) by Les Minor
• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.

• A Perfect World with Kevin Costner
• The Fast & the Furious
• The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)
• The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014)
• Smokey and the Bandit
• In the movie Zombieland, Woody Harrelson refers to the relationship with his new zombie-killing companion, Jesse Eisenberg, that he figures it will last "all the way to Texarkana".

• "All My Ex's Live in Texas" by George Strait
• "Cotton Fields" a blues song by Lead Belly and covered by many others, includes this line : "Just about a mile from Texarkana".
• "Texarkana Baby" by Eddy Arnold
• "Texarkana To Panama City" by Lee Rocker
• "Train to Texarkana" by Shawn Howard
• "Texarkana" by R.E.M.
• "East Bound and Down" by Jerry Reed
• "Ride My Llama" by Neil Young
• "I've Been Everywhere" by Johnny Cash
• "Texarkana Resistance" by Vatican Shadow

Texarkana in Greenwich Village, New York, New York.

• Texarkana Gazette

Texarkana is part of a television market that also includes Shreveport, Louisiana as its central city.

KTAL-TV Channel 6 is an NBC affiliate licensed to Texarkana, Texas and serving the Shreveport - Texarkana market; its primary studios are located in Downtown Shreveport, with a secondary facility located at 3716 Summerhill Road in Texarkana.