As the Haunted Texarkana Ghost Walk  folks get ready to start a new route, we wanted to share the path and sights on the current "Tour A".

Starting at the corner of Broad and Texas Boulevard you hear the history of the City Hall Hotel that stands next to City Hall on Texas Boulevard. The top floor was managed my the famous madame Nell Rayburn.

Just across the corner you hear of the old Courier Building, and the story of the crying paper boy that people still report hearing in the early morning hours.

The walk then goes north along the old Benefield Hotel, and hear the reported ghost stories, including the story of how a Bowie County Constable walked into the Home Saloon and shot a man in the head with a shotgun for selling cigarettes on Sunday. It was ruled justified.

Continuing north on Texas Blvd. you hear the story of the Appellate Court Clerk that hung himself in City Hall and the stories that live on from it today.

Going east on Third Street we pass by the Perot Theater, and talk about the history of the building but don't share a lot of their haunted history as they do a ghost tour of the theater in October, and we don't want to hurt their fundraising effort.

Continuing east on Third we pass the old city livery stables where we share some history on the tragedy there. Then discuss the history of the Sears & Roebuck Building that stands there now. We make the block around the Hotel Grim stopping at the old Avenue Hotel on the corner of Stateline and Fourth Street and tell of the tragic events there in 1952.

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We go south on Stateline discussing the Rialto Building, the Hotel Grim and the Foreman Building.

We make a stop at the Museum of Regional History and tell the story of what is the first brick building built in Texarkana. We also get to discuss the history of the Princess Theater and the Discovery Place Museum that stands next to it.

Continuing south on Stateline we stop for a moment at the corner of Stateline and Broad Street at the Landmark Building... of course before 1904 it was the Telephone Saloon, one of the roughest and toughest places in Texarkana history. It was here that Police Captain C.E. Dixon was shot in the head at point blank range with a shotgun by Richard Johnson the operator of the Telephone saloon. Another shooting that was ruled justifiable. This is also the location that it is believed the Texas/Arkansas rivalry truly began, and you will hear why.

From there we walk south and back west across the train platform on the backside of Union Station and share the legends that we researched and a couple that were shared from officials with Union Pacific.

We come back up on to Front Street and walk to the center of Union Station and share some of what we think is one of Texarkana's darkest stories. Moving west on Front Street we share the history of the McCartney Hotel and from there we share the history of Swampoodle District.

As we head north on Main Street you will learn the history of the Paragon Saloon tragedy, and the strange stories that have been uncovered by researchers as we have been doing the tour.

The walk then heads west on Broad Street sharing history of the old business college and the men that can still be heard arguing there. The location of the old Texarkana Gallows, and end up back with the legend of Auggie and Antoine at the Silver Moon Hotel.

Tour B will begin in September for those that have already been on the walk, tickets will be available soon.

 

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