United States Post Office and Courthouse

The United States Post Office and Courthouse, also known as Texarkana U.S. Post Office and Federal Building and as Texarkana U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, is located on State Line Avenue in Texarkana, straddling the border between Arkansas and Texas. It is a courthouse of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.The building was built in 1933 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.The first courthouse built on this location was completed in 1892, serving as a courthouse until 1911, when it was succeeded by the erection of a separate courthouse entirely in Texas. The Texas-only courthouse later became the Texarkana Regional Arts Center. The earlier, border-straddling building continued to serve the Arkansas district alone until it was razed in 1930 to make way for the new construction, which was completed in 1933.SignificanceSince its construction in 1931, the United States Post Office and Courthouse has remained the most prominent structure in Texarkana, due in no small measure to its location. The regularity of the downtown street grid is interrupted by the north-south path of State Line Avenue, which separates Texas and Arkansas. Located between Fifth and Sixth Streets, the federal building ensures its pivotal presence by occupying the sole site in the center of State Line Avenue. By straddling the boundary between two states, the building uniquely evinces its federal nature and function; no other federal building in the country is sited in two states.