Four States Living Magazine

Early Texarkana was a Reconstruction-era town that seemingly sprang up overnight. Construction began on its first buildings within hours of the sale of town lots. In just a few months’ time, the town had expanded along 20 blocks and was growing fast.

Farmers Bank and Trust Company was founded in 1906 in Magnolia, Arkansas, by T.S. Grayson and Robert Warnock Sr. with a philosophy of serving their neighbors. The company started with $75,000 in assets, equivalent to approximately $2,782,500 in 2026 dollars.

The Four States Fair wasn’t built by one person. It was built by generations of local people who treated it almost like a family responsibility—people who showed up, worked hard, passed along what they knew, and, when their time came, handed the reins to someone else.

The story of Robbins Toyota begins with founder Eddie Robbins, who grew up the son of a used-car dealer. He graduated from the University of North Texas, with plans of becoming a banker.

If the walls of Texarkana ISD could talk, they would have one heck of a story to tell. They could tell us about three teenagers who made up one of the district’s earliest graduating classes. They could tell us about boys who left high school to serve in World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, sometimes never returning to finish the diplomas they had started.

TRAHC’s ArtSpace didn’t simply appear as the latest home for its growing programs. There is nearly half a century of history behind what happens inside these walls—and that history began long before TRAHC had any facilities to call its own.

Since 1939, Texarkana Funeral Home has had the privilege of serving families throughout the Texarkana area. What began with Howard Fuqua and Harry L. Everett at 6th and Main Streets has become a lasting part of the community, serving families through some of the most difficult and meaningful moments of their lives.

This year marks 20 years of Four States Living Magazine’s Forty Under Forty issue.

At the Smith family dinner table, conversations don’t always begin with, “How was your day?” Instead, they’re often filled with discussions about lesson plans, student successes, journalism deadlines, classroom leadership, photography competitions, and the occasional string of educational acronyms that would leave outsiders completely lost.

What began as a Christmas gift has quickly grown into an entrepreneurial venture for four Pleasant Grove Middle School students. After receiving a 3D printer in December 2025, Zander Ames discovered a passion for designing and printing articulated toys and novelty gadgets.

A published poet and professor at Clark Atlanta University, brittny ray crowell grew up in and around Texarkana, Texas, as the youngest in a four-generation home. Her debut book, Cord Swell, is a collection is a memorialization of her ancestors, crafted in part from historical documents such as journals and obituaries. 

Homeschooling was not on my radar as a parent. Our family moved to the Texarkana area in the fall of 2013 for my husband’s career. All too quickly, it came time for our son to attend kindergarten—full day, five days a week—and we felt unsettled with the choices that lay ahead of us.

Most of the towns and villages in Bowie County were named for the pioneers who helped found them or for the families who owned the land originally, according to a study of the origin of names of towns in the county made by H.P. Briley.

PUBLISHER’S LETTER
Robin Rogers, Ed.D.
October 2026

I’ve always looked a challenge straight in the eye. If I wanted to accomplish something, I figured I had to work for it, learn what I didn’t know, and keep moving forward—even when I wasn’t entirely sure what I was doing.

So since I couldn’t qualify for the 40 Under 40, I devised a list of 40 “under-40” things I can apparently no longer do.

PUBLISHER’S LETTER
Robin Rogers, Ed.D.
September 2026

PUBLISHER’S LETTER
Robin Rogers, Ed.D.
August 2026

PUBLISHER’S LETTER
Robin Rogers, Ed.D.
July 2026

PUBLISHER’S LETTER
Robin Rogers, Ed.D.
June 2026

PUBLISHER’S LETTER
Robin Rogers, Ed.D.
May 2026

PUBLISHER’S LETTER
Robin Rogers, Ed.D.
April 2026

PUBLISHER’S LETTER
Robin Rogers, Ed.D.
March 2026