Fort Smith is the third-most populous city in Arkansas, United States, and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2020 census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents that encompasses the Arkansas counties of Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian, and the Oklahoma counties of LeFlore and Sequoyah.
Fort Smith lies on the Arkansas–Oklahoma state border, situated in the Arkansas Valley at the confluence of the Arkansas and Poteau rivers, also known as Belle Point. Fort Smith was established as a western frontier military post in 1817, when it was also a center of fur trading. The city developed there. Strategically located between the Ozarks to the north and the Ouachita Mountains to the south, it became well known as a base for migrants' settling of the "Wild West" and for its law enforcement heritage, as it was the hub for white law enforcement of the adjacent Indian Territory.
The city government is led by Mayor George McGill (D), who in 2018 was elected as the city's mayor (the first African American in its history), and a city Board of Directors composed of three members elected at-large and four members elected by ward.
History Pre-European exploration 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.
European exploration and early settlement
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.
Louisiana Purchase and early 19th century In 1803, the United States acquired the region through the Louisiana Purchase. While the Lewis and Clark Expedition explored northern portions of the territory, the Pike Expedition of 1806 surveyed the southern areas along the Arkansas River.
In November 1817, U.S. Army troops established the first Fort Smith at Belle Point. The post was named for General Thomas Adams Smith, commander of the United States Army Rifle Regiment, although he never visited the site. The fort was initially intended to maintain peace between the Osage and Cherokee peoples. A small civilian settlement developed nearby. Major William Bradford commanded the post until its abandonment in 1824, when the Army relocated west to Fort Gibson.
John Rogers, an Army sutler and land speculator, purchased former government lands and promoted civilian growth. During the 1830s, amid federal Indian removal policies, the Army returned to Fort Smith and expanded the post. From this base, troops enforced the forced relocation of Southeastern tribes, including the Choctaw and Cherokee, to Indian Territory. The Cherokee later referred to this migration as the Trail of Tears. Many displaced people temporarily settled in Fort Smith and Van Buren.
Mid-19th century Fort Smith served as a military and supply center during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and as an outfitting point for westward migrants during the California Gold Rush. One of the earliest overland wagon trains to California departed from Fort Smith in 1849. That same year, St. Andrew’s College was established, though it closed by 1860.
Sebastian County, Arkansas was created in 1851. In 1858, Fort Smith became a division center for the Butterfield Overland Mail and a junction for routes connecting to Memphis, Tennessee.
Civil War and Reconstruction During the American Civil War, Confederate forces occupied Fort Smith until Union troops under General Frederick Steele captured it following the Battle of Devil's Backbone on September 1, 1863. Although Confederate raids continued, the Union Army retained control until 1865. The city became a refuge for formerly enslaved people, Unionists, and war refugees. Enslaved people were legally freed under the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Federal troops permanently withdrew from the fort in 1871.
After the war, Fort Smith hosted the Fort Smith Conference of 1865, which addressed relations between the federal government and tribes that had allied with the Confederacy. Military farm colonies were also established to support displaced populations.
Late 19th century In 1874, W. H. H. Clayton was appointed U.S. Attorney for the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas by President Ulysses S. Grant. Clayton, with support from Grant and Senator Powell Clayton, secured the appointment of Judge Isaac C. Parker in 1875.
Parker served until 1896 and became known as the "Hanging Judge". He sentenced 160 people to death, with 79 executions carried out. His courthouse is now part of the Fort Smith National Historic Site, noted as the location where more executions were conducted by the U.S. government than anywhere else in American history. 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.
Early 20th century Between 1907 and 1924, Fort Smith became one of the few U.S. cities to legalize and regulate prostitution in a designated district. Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation in public facilities and transportation. On March 23, 1912, Sanford Lewis, an African American man, was lynched by a mob. Several police officers were later convicted for failing to intervene.
Natural gas discoveries and manufacturing, particularly glass and furniture, expanded the local economy. In 1917, telephone operators initiated a strike that escalated into a nine-day general strike. In 1922, an automobile bridge was completed across the Arkansas River.
Great Depression and World War II During the Great Depression, Fort Smith was affected by economic hardship. The New Deal brought public works projects, including construction of Lake Fort Smith. In 1941, the Army established Fort Chaffee east of the city. Activated in 1942, it trained armored divisions and housed German prisoners of war.
Postwar era Fort Chaffee was intermittently activated after the war. KFSM-TV, Arkansas’s second television station, began broadcasting in 1953. Manufacturing expanded during the 1950s and 1960s, with companies such as Baldor Electric and ABF Freight System growing alongside Whirlpool’s appliance factory, which opened as Norge in 1962.
Fort Smith pursued gradual school desegregation, avoiding the level of conflict seen elsewhere but maintaining de facto inequalities. Population and industrial growth continued into the 1970s.
Modern era In 1975, Fort Chaffee served as a resettlement center for Vietnamese refugees. Additional Hispanic and Laotian communities settled in subsequent decades, establishing religious and cultural institutions.
On April 21, 1996, a tornado struck Fort Smith and Van Buren, killing four people and damaging much of downtown Fort Smith.
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 acquitted all defendants of all charges on April 7, 1988. The verdict prompted widespread debate, with critics viewing it as a setback in efforts to combat organized extremism and supporters framing it as a defense of free speech.
Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (6.3%) is water.
Climate 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. The average first and last occurrences for freezing temperatures are November 6 and March 25, respectively. Extreme temperatures range from on February 12, 1899 to on August 3, 2011. Fort Smith is situated near an area known as Tornado Alley in the central United States. The city has been struck by three major tornadoes, which occurred in the years of 1898, 1927 and 1996.
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition +Fort Smith, Arkansas – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop.2000Pop.2010Pop.2020% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)59,43655,65450,72874.05%64.56%56.91%Black or African American alone (NH)6,8747,6217,6028.56%8.84%8.53%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)1,2541,4081,5551.56%1.63%1.74%Asian alone (NH)3,6614,5245,1034.56%5.25%5.72%Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian alone (NH)2959650.04%0.07%0.07%Other race alone (NH)48662270.06%0.08%0.25%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)1,9182,6876,3962.39%3.12%7.18%Hispanic or Latino (any race)7,04814,19017,4668.78%16.46%19.59%Total80,26886,20989,142100.00%100.00%100.00%
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Fort Smith had a population of 89,142. A total of 22,349 families resided in the city.
The median age was 36.9 years. 23.7% of residents were under the age of 18 and 15.9% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.4 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 92.1 males age 18 and over.
98.8% of residents lived in urban areas, while 1.2% lived in rural areas.
There were 36,266 households in Fort Smith, of which 29.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 39.4% were married-couple households, 21.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 31.2% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 32.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 40,327 housing units, of which 10.1% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.3% and the rental vacancy rate was 10.1%.
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number PercentWhite 54,222 60.8%Black or African American 7,758 8.7%American Indian and Alaska Native 1,994 2.2%Asian 5,181 5.8%Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 79 0.1%Some other race 9,721 10.9%Two or more races 10,187 11.4%
2010 census As of the 2010 census, there were 86,209 people, 34,352 households, and 21,367 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 37,899 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 69.3% White, 9.0% Black or African American, 1.8% Native American, 5.3% Asian (2.2% Vietnamese, 1.7% Laotian, 0.3% Asian Indian, 0.2% Filipino, 0.1% Korean, 0.1% Chinese, 0.1% Hmong, 0.1% Pakistani), 0.1% Pacific Islander, 10.3% from other races, and 4.2% from two or more races. 16.5% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race (11.6% Mexican, 2.2% Salvadoran, 0.4% Guatemalan, 0.3% Puerto Rican, 0.2% Honduran, 0.1% Cuban, 0.1% Peruvian, 0.1% Colombian).
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