Texarkana encourages community to help create quilt for city’s 150th-year anniversary

TEXARKANA, Texas (KSLA) - For its yearlong 150th-anniversary celebration, Texarkana is creating a quilt, and officials are seeking community support for the first project.

Jamie Simmons is the curator for the Texarkana Museum System. The quilt she showed KSLA is the inspiration for a yearlong project to celebrate Texarkana’s sesquicentennial.

“A signature or friendship quilt is traditionally made by a group,” Simmons explained.

Simmons says they are encouraging residents to contribute something for the sesquicentennial quilt.

“They can bring in fabric that has their name embroidered on it or a date. You can use fabric safe pens to write on it,” Simmons said.

Simmons says the size of the quilt when completed will depend on the amount of community participation. Those who donate to this project are also asked to bring a specific story about the fabric and time spent in Texarkana.

“It’s not just a physical quilt. It is the patchwork of all of our stories that goes in the history of Texarkana; so as we celebrate our 150th anniversary, we want to collect those stories. We want to add to the continuing history of Texarkana,” Simmons said.

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Texarkana Sesquicentennial celebration

From quilts to postcards, this Saturday (Feb. 18) is the story of African American George Strong. He’s printed on an iconic postcard that was created in 1913. This will be featured in a special program at the Texarkana Ace of Clubs House and downtown Federal Building.

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