Fort Smith on the Arkansas River

Fascinating History, big storms, raging fire

We arrived during a Tornado Watch for western Arkansas. Here we “only” experienced a Major Wind/Rain Storm, which thankfully didn’t hit until after we set up camp. It was essentially over by morning and the last 2 nights were gorgeous.

**Walk along the Arkansas River on the Riverwalk, behind our campground, at Sunset**

Then…yesterday, the Adelaide Hall Building, which housed the Bricktown Brewery and was one of the oldest buildings in town, was gutted by a fire. The fire started ~10 hours after we had a lovely dinner there after our first day of touring, and wasn’t fully extinguished for ~12 hours. We only discovered it, because we tried to visit the Fort Smith History Museum, but being a block away from the fire, was closed for the day.

But we accomplished our main goal…

Visit to 1 new National Park Site (encompassing 2 NSTs):

Fort Smith National Historic Site (#269), which tells a ~80 year history of Life on the Edge of the Frontier and Indian Territory, from the establishment of the first Fort Smith 1817, to the final days of Judge Isaac C. Parker‘s jurisdiction over Indian Territory in 1896. We spent a good part of a day exploring it all:
- First Fort Smith (1817-1824), established to keep peace in the Arkansas River Valley between the native Osage and newly arriving Cherokee.
- Second Fort Smith (1838-1871), a new garrison was built at farther back from the river, and as a massive defensive fort was never needed, it eventually served as a supply depot.
- Federal Court for the Western District of Arkansas (1872-1896), which enforced federal laws in Western Arkansas and in Indian Territory (present Oklahoma), moved to Fort Smith in 1871. The court is known for its criminal cases, mostly the 22 years of Judge Isaac C. Parker, nicknamed the “Hanging Judge”. A good number of US Deputy Marshals operated from here in that time frame…lots of stories.
Trail of Tears National Historic Trail (1831-1845), almost the western end, as Oklahoma is across the Arkansas River from Fort Smith, which became a supply depot.
Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail, where the the two eastern routes, from St. Louis and Memphis met, at Fort Smith.

Fort Smith NHS-New Jail to left, Courthouse (1st floor) and Old Jail (basement) to right. Barracks for 2nd Fort Smith were in the first floor when it was a 1 story building
Fort Smith NHS-Old Jail
Fort Smith NHS-Courthouse
Fort Smith NHS-New Jail exhibit
Fort Smith NHS-remnants of the 1st Fort Smith, right on then river
Fort Smith NHS-Commissary, oldest building in the whole town of Fort Smith
Fort Smith NHS-the Gallows

Visits to 2 other Historic Sites/Museums

Miss Laura’s Social Club (or Miss Laura’s Bordello) is the only whorehouse listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Actually a very upscale place, we only got to visit the first floor, as they were re-arranging the 2nd floor the day we visited.
US Marshals Museum, which opened on July 1st, 2023, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, on the banks of the Arkansas River. Very cool building, with excellent exhibits telling the story of the United States Marshals Service (USMS), the oldest law enforcement agency in the US. And, did you know, that Frederick Douglass was the first African American US Deputy Marshal, for DC?

Miss Laura’s, down by the railroad tracks and river. It had an 8′ fence, when in business
Apparently, the building looks like a Marshal Star from the sky
One of many fascinating exhibits