Editing Texarkana, Texas (section)

==Etymology==

The name Texarkana is known to be a [[portmanteau]] of [[Texas|'''Tex'''as]], [[Arkansas|'''Ark'''ansas]], and nearby [[Louisiana|Louisi'''ana''']]. However, accounts of the name's origin differ, and it had been in use some time before the town was founded. The most popular tradition is that when the [[St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway]] was building its line through the area, Col. Gus Knobel, a railroad surveyor, coined the name. He is said to have painted it on a plank and nailed it to a tree, saying "This is the name of a town which is to be built here."<ref name="arkansasguide">{{cite book|author=Compiled by workers of the Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of Arkansas|title=Arkansas: A Guide to the State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eRujhKef6FkC|year=1941|publisher=Arkansas State Planning Board|isbn=978-1-62376-004-5|page=198}}</ref> Another story tells of a [[Red River of the South|Red River]] steamboat named ''The Texarkana'', {{circa|1860}}. A third account relates that a storekeeper named Swindle in Red Land, Louisiana, concocted a drink called "Texarkana Bitters".<ref name="texarkana">{{cite book |title=The Handbook of Texas Online |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hdt02 |publisher=Texas State Historical Association, University of North Texas }}</ref>