A coming tour of downtown Texarkana buildings is part of a Texas-wide initiative to showcase the potential of the state's vacant historic structures.
Main Street Texarkana's Imagine the Possibilities tour will be one of 12 taking place to promote a new website that catalogs historic buildings available in Texas downtowns.
Launching Monday, downtowntx.org will include Texarkana among 20 featured cities. The site will present historical and ownership information and photos of dozens of properties. Though it is focused on Texas, because of Texarkana's unique bi-state situation, it will also feature downtown Arkansas-side properties.
The website is being developed by the Texas Historical Commission's Town Square Initiative, a program that focuses on the challenge of redeveloping unoccupied and underutilized historic buildings.
Texas Historical Commission planner Emily Koller emphasized that the site is a work in progress and should improve over time.
"We're barely past pilot. It will continue to develop and evolve," she said.
To promote the new site, Town Square Initiative is sponsoring Imagine the Possibilities tours across the state throughout May, Historic Preservation Month. The idea for the tours came from Main Street Nacogdoches, Koller said.
In cities such as Texarkana, Linden, Palestine and Tyler, residents, developers and entrepreneurs can take an up-close look at vintage buildings awaiting revival.
Texarkana's self-guided tour will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 13. Participants can pick up a list of included properties at the Museum of Regional History, 219 N. State Line Ave., and proceed at their own pace.
"Our goal is to see these buildings occupied again," said Ina McDowell, executive director of Main Street Texarkana. "It's really exciting."
For more information, contact Main Street Texarkana at 903-792-7191 or [email protected].
ONLINE
Texas Historic Commission Town Square Initiative
thc.texas.gov/town-square-initiative