Ninety-minute walking tour crossing the Texas–Arkansas state line through the Hotel Grim, Union Station, Perot Theatre, and Swampoodle District
202 E Broad St, Texarkana, TX 75501
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Ticket pricing available at hauntedtexarkana.com or on the night of the tour; reservations strongly recommended in October
Access
Limited Access
One-mile outdoor walk through downtown streets; crosses Texas-Arkansas state line
Equipment
Photos OK
Texas-Arkansas border city railroad history · Hotel Grim (1925) and Perot Theatre (1924) architecture · Union Station (1930) railroad heritage · Texarkana Museums System educational programming
Texarkana was incorporated in 1880 at the junction of the Texas and Pacific Railway, and the Texas–Arkansas state line that bisects State Line Avenue became one of the defining features of the city's culture: twin courthouses, twin post offices, and a commercial district that operated under two sets of laws depending on which side of the street you were on.
The late-Victorian and early-twentieth-century building stock along and near Broad Street includes several structures with documented violent histories. The City Hall Hotel block was once managed by a madame named Nell Rayburn and was home to saloon-era street violence. The Avenue Hotel at Stateline and Fourth Street is connected to a 1952 tragedy documented in tour research. Union Station, a 1930 depot building, carries what tour organizers describe as one of Texarkana's darkest stories — the details of which they researched with input from Union Pacific historical records.
The Perot Theatre, built in 1924, is one of the city's architectural centerpieces. It runs its own separate October ghost fundraiser in cooperation with the ghost walk route. The Hotel Grim, named for early settler Jacob Grim, opened in 1925 and anchors the northern end of the commercial historic district.
The Texarkana Museums System has organized the ghost walk as an educational program connecting the city's paranormal reputation to documented primary-source history.
Sources
Each stop on the Haunted Texarkana Ghost Walk carries a documented or traditional account assembled by the tour's researchers.
The City Hall Hotel block at Broad and Texas Boulevard is the starting point. Near the Courier Building, multiple people over the years have reported hearing a child crying late at night — identified in local tradition as the crying paper boy. The adjacent block includes the site of a Sunday shooting that was ruled justified by a Bowie County official — a story that illustrates the legal ambiguities of Texarkana's split jurisdiction.
The Avenue Hotel at Stateline and Fourth Street is tied to a specific event in 1952, the details of which the tour covers in person. Union Station holds what tour researchers describe as one of the city's most serious historical tragedies, documented through Union Pacific records.
The McCartney Hotel and the Silver Moon Hotel along the route carry saloon-era lore. The Swampoodle District — a working-class neighborhood that developed around the railroad yards — generated a body of lore associated with labor violence and the transient population that worked the rail lines.
The tour specifically avoids detailed coverage of the Perot Theatre's haunted traditions, which the theater reserves for its own October fundraising events.
Notable Entities
A 90-minute, approximately one-mile walking tour departing at 9 p.m. from 202 E Broad Street. Route A covers the City Hall Hotel, Courier Building, Benefield Hotel, Perot Theater, Hotel Grim, Avenue Hotel, Union Station, McCartney Hotel, and Swampoodle District, crossing the state line between Texas and Arkansas. The Texarkana Museums System operates the tour.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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