SAU Research Station - Arkansas Archeological Survey

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Current Projects

The Gateway Project: Historic Downtown Texarkana

Texarkana is a postbellum railroad town--founded in 1874. Moreover, it was a city of dualities from its beginning with the Texas & Pacific Railroad selling town lots on the Texas side, and the Cairo & Fulton Railroad selling town lots on the Arkansas side.

Local and regional historian Beverly Rowe has written in Once Upon A Time in Texarkana that:

"Texarkana's duality is complex. It is actually two separate towns in two separate counties, in two separate states...However, the duality goes much further than that, it is possible to discern variations in values and world views from one side of town to the other."


	A brick-lined well excavated in downtown Texarkana during the March 2006 Gateway Project.

Dr. Rowe, along with her students at Texarkana College, has teamed up with the Texas Archeological Society, the Arkansas Archeological Society and the AAS-SAU Research Station to conduct a 4-year project excavating sites in downtown Texarkana with AAS-SAU Research Associate David Jeane serving as Field Director.

To date, two excavations have taken place as a part of the Gateway Project. Both have been on deposits associated with railroad hotels--one serving the white community of Texarkana (in March of 2004), and one serving African-American travelers (in March of 2006).

Two more years of excavations are planed and analysis of the large quantity of material recovered is currently underway. Look for this project to tell us a great deal about consumer goods and those who lived and work in, as well as those who traveled through Texarkana.

For more information about this project contact the Gateway Project's Field Director: David Jeane (drjeane@saumag.edu) or (870)235-4230.