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The United States Post Office and Courthouse, also known as Texarkana U.S. Post Office and Federal Building and as Texarkana U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, is located on State Line Avenue in Texarkana, straddling the border between Arkansas and Texas. It is a courthouse of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The building was built in 1933 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.〔 The first courthouse built on this location was completed in 1892, serving as a courthouse until 1911, when it was succeeded by the erection of a separate courthouse entirely in Texas. The Texas-only courthouse later became the Texarkana Regional Arts Center. The earlier, border-straddling building continued to serve the Arkansas district alone until it was razed in 1930 to make way for the new construction, which was completed in 1933. ==Significance== Since its construction in 1931, the United States Post Office and Courthouse has remained the most prominent structure in Texarkana, due in no small measure to its location. The regularity of the downtown street grid is interrupted by the north-south path of State Line Avenue, which separates Texas and Arkansas. Located between Fifth and Sixth Streets, the federal building ensures its pivotal presence by occupying the sole site in the center of State Line Avenue. By straddling the boundary between two states, the building uniquely evinces its federal nature and function; no other federal building in the country is sited in two states.〔(General Services Administration page on the United States Post Office and Courthouse ).〕 At least twelve buildings, including the original U.S. Post Office and Courthouse and the Central Christian Church, were demolished or relocated to accommodate this new federal building, which significantly altered the street pattern. Witt, Seibert & Halsey of Texarkana, in association with Perkins, Chatten & Hammond of Chicago, were responsible for the building's design, with James A. Wetmore the acting supervising architect for the Treasury Department. R.O. Jameson prepared the original structural engineering drawings; R.F. Taylor was the mechanical engineer.〔 No large-scale occupancy relocations have occurred and the building has retained most of its original functions, maintaining the stability of its connection with the community. The first floor post office, third floor courtrooms and judicial spaces, as well as many of the offices, still serve the purposes for which they were intended. Though modifications to the postal screen walls were made twice within eight years of construction, the building did not undergo significant change until new air conditioning, plaster soffits, and suspended fluorescent fixtures were added to judicial rooms in 1957. The following year a conveyor areaway and stair were added leading to the basement on the Arkansas side. The 1970s brought more changes to the postal screen walls, as well as the insensitive addition of air conditioning equipment and ductwork with suspended acoustic tile ceilings to the offices on floors two through five. It is critical to the life of the building that its current functions be maintained.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「United States Post Office and Courthouse (Texarkana)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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