Sundown Sets

Downtown needs visitors’ guide to film locations

It was a big deal in the summer of 1976 when producer/director Charles B. Pierce was filming “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” right here in the Twin Cities.

There were quite a few Texarkana residents who had major roles in the film. More than a few appeared as extras. Many still cherish the memories of their time before the camera.

The premiere of the film here that December was big news as well. And the film went on to do very, very well at the box office across the country and around the world. “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” parked a renewed interest in the 1946 attacks attributed to the Phantom Killer. The slayings have since been featured in books, TV shows, documentary films and a 2014 quasi-sequel to Pierce’s film, also called “The Town That Dreaded Sundown.”

The legacy of the 1976 film is still apparent in visitors who come to Texarkana just to see the real town that dreaded sundown. And they sometimes stop by this newspaper, asking questions and looking for directions to the locations of key scenes in the original version.

A lot of filming was done downtown, particularly in the area around Union Station and the Hotel McCartney on Front Street. The station and the restaurant of the hotel were featured, and part of the train deport was used as the police station while the Front Street facade of the McCartney was fashioned into a period movie theater.

You can sometimes see tourists down there taking pictures—which gave us an idea.

Why not put up a sign guiding visitors to filming locations? Perhaps with a brief history of the crimes and the film, as well as photos and a map showing State Line as it was before the Bi-State Justice Building was constructed, with film locations highlighted.

It wouldn’t be too hard to do. And it would serve our visitors well.