Fort Smith

Sister cities

• Cisterna di Latina

History

No evidence indicates permanent indigenous settlements at the time of European contact in what became Fort Smith. In southern Fort Smith, a platform mound known as the Cavanaugh Mound exists in isolation and may have served as a vantage point from which the Spiro Mounds in present-day Oklahoma could be seen in earlier centuries. Hernando de Soto’s 1541 expedition into Arkansas may have reached as far west as the Fort Smith area. Place names such as Poteau, Belle Point, and Massard Prairie suggest later activity by French trappers who used the Arkansas River and its tributaries. The fertile Arkansas River Valley attracted early settlers, and Belle Point, a river bluff near the confluence of the Arkansas and Poteau rivers, provided a defensible location and broad visibility to the west. Parker worked closely with African-American deputy marshal Bass Reeves. The late nineteenth century saw rapid growth, aided by railroad expansion. In 1890, Sebastian County established a poor farm near the city, now marked by the Elmwood Poor Farm Cemetery. A tornado in 1898 killed more than fifty residents. Between 1907 and 1924, Fort Smith became one of the few U.S. cities to legalize and regulate prostitution in a designated district. In early 1988, Fort Smith hosted the Fort Smith sedition trial involving fourteen right-wing extremists charged primarily with seditious conspiracy and related crimes, including alleged plots to overthrow the U.S. government and assassinate a federal judge and an FBI agent. Prosecutors presented extensive evidence and testimony describing a nationwide network of white supremacist groups allegedly involved in robberies, bombings, and planned attacks on federal institutions. Despite the scope of the case and testimony from nearly 200 witnesses, the jury…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (6.3%) is water. Fort Smith has a humid subtropical climate with generally mild winters and hot, humid summers. The monthly mean temperature ranges from in January to in July; on average, the high stays at or below freezing on 3.8 days, reaches on 77.8 days, and on 11.1 days annually. | date=October 2011 }}

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• NORTHSIDE HIGH SCHOOL
  High · FORT SMITH · 2,433 students · 12.2:1 ratio
• SOUTHSIDE HIGH SCHOOL
  High · FORT SMITH · 1,956 students · 10.6:1 ratio
• DORA KIMMONS JR. HIGH SCHOOL
  Middle · FORT SMITH · 841 students · 15.3:1 ratio
• RAMSEY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
  Middle · FORT SMITH · 832 students · 13.6:1 ratio
• L. A. CHAFFIN JR. HIGH SCHOOL
  Middle · FORT SMITH · 725 students · 13.9:1 ratio
• WILLIAM O. DARBY JR. HIGH SCH.
  Middle · FORT SMITH · 700 students · 14.9:1 ratio
• ELMER H. COOK ELEM. SCHOOL
  Elementary · FORT SMITH · 500 students · 20:1 ratio
• JOHN P. WOODS ELEM. SCHOOL
  Elementary · FORT SMITH · 487 students · 18.7:1 ratio