I won’t try to cover all of the attractions in Fort Smith. There’s a bunch. When I got home from my trip around Oklahoma I remarked to a friend that it would be horrible if the most interesting thing I found on my Oklahoma trip was Fort Smith, Arkansas. But Fort Smith is heavily tied to the state of Oklahoma by history. It was the site of law enforcement for the Indian Territory for a period of time from between the civil war and Oklahoma statehood. There are books written on the subject. A lot of what is known about the events of the Indian and Oklahoma Territories is known from events that transpired in Fort Smith, AR.

The first picture is of downtown Ft Smith. It tells a story of the town. It tells that the town is growing. So often during my trip around Oklahoma I saw from the downtown area that the town was dying or was seriously ill. Ft Smith’s downtown gave no such indication.

The next picture is of the Fort Smith National Historic Site which the National Park Service describes as “From the establishment of the first Fort Smith on December 25, 1817, to the final days of Judge Isaac C. Parker’s jurisdiction over Indian Territory in 1896, Fort Smith National Historic Site preserves almost 80 years of history.” It was a great museum. Especially for a boy from Oklahoma.

The last picture is of a Ft Smith Trolley. The trolley service is still functional. The only difference is that it now carries only tourists. Ft Smith is a great place to visit, especially to learn a lot about Oklahoma in the 19th century.