Fort Smith (pop. 89,142; met. area pop. 227,213) is the most important manufacturing center in Arkansas and one of the state’s largest cities. Fort Smith is a transportation center on the western border of Arkansas. It lies at the foot of the Boston Mountains. Part of its metropolitan area lies in Oklahoma. The Fort Smith area includes coal and natural gas deposits and small farms. National forests lie to the city’s north, southwest, and south. Fort Smith factories produce dozens of different products, including foods, furniture, heating and air-conditioning units, home refrigerators, and steel.
Downtown Fort Smith has a national historic site that includes the courtroom of the famous frontier “hanging judge,” Isaac C. Parker. The area also includes a historical museum, a trolley-railway museum, an art center–community theater complex, and a civic center.
Fort Smith began as a fort that was established by the United States Army in 1817 to keep peace between the Osage and Cherokee Indians. The fort was named for General Thomas A. Smith, commander of the military district in which the fort stood. Fort Smith grew into a town, which was incorporated in 1842. It was incorporated as a city in 1885. The discovery of natural gas near the city about 1900 gave the growing Fort Smith industries a cheap source of power. In 1969, a federal navigation project on the Arkansas River made it possible for barges to reach Fort Smith from New Orleans. The city became an important port on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System.
