The Texarkana Museums System offers three fun and fascinating ways to explore Texarkana’s past, present and future. TMS operates the Museum of Regional History, the Draughon-Moore “Ace of Clubs” House and the Discovery Place Children’s Museum in historic downtown Texarkana.

TMS Online Archives

New items have been added to the TMS Online Archives. New images scans from the TMS photograph archives, new audio clips and more await the Texarkana History enthusiast, all free to the public. Please see our website for details.

A group of local citizens established the Texarkana Historical Society in 1966. In 1971, the Society opened the Texarkana Historical Museum in the former Offenhauser Insurance building. In 1985, the Society obtained the Draughon-Moore "Ace of Clubs" house, a unique octagonal house built in 1885. The house is now completely restored and open to the public. The most recent addition to the Society came in 1990 when "Discovery Place" opened. "Discovery Place" is a hands-on museum of science, history, and human perception. It also houses traveling exhibits, a 50-seat video theater, and a classroom. To reflect its expanded mission, the Society changed its name to the Texarkana Museums System (TMS) in 1993. The organization received accreditation from the American Association of Museums in 1991.

Textiles (4,000), Medical (5,000), Household-implements and furniture (3,000), Archaeological Archival - photographs, pioneer histories - ephemera (20,000)

Ephemera - newspapers, photographs, personal histories, postcards, yearbooks, letters, diaries, cookbooks, magazines. They are available for research by appointment.

The Texarkana Museums System is made up of three facilities: Texarkana Historical Museum, Ace of Clubs House, and Discovery Place. TMS offers educational programming for school groups, grades pre-K to 12. TMS has educational tour programs, museum tours, Rose Hill Cemetery tour, special exhibits, in-class presentations, and teacher workshops.

The education tour programs must be scheduled. TMS has hands-on history trunks for loan. Each trunk includes artifacts, teacher background information, suggested classroom activities, and student take-home booklets. They may be checked out for one week. TMS also has traveling exhibits such as A Family Portrait, a photographic exhibit that focuses on an African-American family of southwest Arkansas at the beginning of the 20th century; House Detectives, a workbook introducing students to basic architectural elements and featuring examples of structures located in Miller, Little River, Sevier, and Hempstead County, Arkansas; and a video of Scott Joplin, Texarkana native and jazz composer.

The history trunks and traveling exhibits are available. Teacher/student guides. In-class presentations - $40, teacher workshops - $75, A Family Portrait - $25/week, history trunks - $25 per week.

Newsletter four times a year, annual report, grant-funded publications.