PO BOX 1406, Third St & Rogers Ave, Fort Smith, AR 72901
Phone: 501-783-3961
Fax: 501-783-5307
Open All Year
Overview. Located at the confluence of the Arkansas and Poteau rivers on the Oklahoma border, this site was once a far western outpost of the United States. In 1817 a fort was established to mediate Native American disputes and protect the few settlers in the area. In the rough and tumble years that followed, the fort was briefly abandoned and rebuilt once. Out there on the far edge of what people considered civilization, shady characters accompanied westward-bound settlers, causing trouble among white and Native American people alike. The fort served as a supply depot for military posts in Indian Territory through the turbulent antebellum years and the Civil War. In 1872 the site was transformed from fort to court. Four years later, Judge Isaac C. Parker arrived to clean up rampant corruption. For 21 years he imposed strict sentences and gradually tamed the countryside. After his death in 1896, he was buried at the National Cemetery in Fort Smith. Today this 35-acre site preserves the remains of two fort buildings and the courthouse in order to remind visitors of the tumult accompanying this nation's emergence.What to see and do. You can easily tour this site in a few hours. At the visitor center, open from 9 AM until 5 PM daily except holidays, you can see a video about the site's historical importance. Interesting exhibits of handcuffs, leg irons, and guns attest to decades of life spent on the edge of lawlessness. Take a walking tour of the courthouse (where the visitor center is), being sure to see the dank jail in the basement. Before Judge Parker and several citizens demanded that a new jail be built, this small place housed as many as 150 criminals at one time, earning the moniker "Hell on the Border." The old commissary and excavated foundation of the first fort round out your picture of what life was like over a century ago. Don't miss the reproduction of the gallows, to which "Hanging" Judge Parker sent 79 hardened murderers and rapists during his tenure. All buildings are wheelchair accessible. Because summers can be hot and humid, it's recommended that you visit during the spring or fall. Leashed pets are permitted.
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