A Brief History and Overview of Texarkana and the Four-States Area

In 1850, the boundary between Texas and Arkansas was established in the Piney Woods region of East Texas and Arkansas. By 1860, settlers began to claim the lands along the state line. In the fall of 1873, the last stretch of railroad connecting Texas and Arkansas at the state line was completed. Earlier survey teams had erred slightly and thought they were marking this spot at the location where Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana were joined. In reality, Louisiana was about 20 miles to the South!  However, this location was named after the three states anyway. In December of that year Texarkana was born when the Texas and Pacific railroad sold its first lots in what would become Texarkana, Texas. About a month later, the first Arkansas lots were sold, and the Twin Cities were formed.

In what used to be a gathering place for downtown shoppers to park their horse drawn wagons at the turn of the century, 217 Laurel St. became the  home to a concern building wagons and automobile bodies. In 1938 a new building was constructed on 219 Laurel St. for the Texarkana Poultry Association with an addition added to the south side (217) in 1942. During the early 20's a brick building housed the Overland Texarkana auto dealership that was located just North of the Museum, at 223 Laurel St.

The Four States Auto Museum, a 501-(c3) organization, chartered in the State of Arkansas, was created in 2004 and housed in this addition. It was founded to preserve, collect, exhibit, operate, and interpret a collection of antique automobiles and auto related historical artifacts, which includes many documents and photographs.