Village Profile Home Page | About our Company | Sales Opportunities | Community eStore | vpmobile.us

Fort Smith Recreation

The Arts and Museums

Fort Smith Art Center
423 North 6th Street
479-784-ARTS
www.ftsartcenter.com
The Fort Smith Art Center is located in the Vaughn-Schaap house, one of the few remaining examples of Victorian Second Empire architecture in Fort Smith. It was the first home to be restored in the Belle Grove Historic District and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Every month the center showcases work by regional and nationally recognized artists and rotates a permanent collection of contemporary regional art. The center is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Fort Smith Little Theatre
401 North 6th Street
479-783-2966
www.fslt.org
The Fort Smith Little Theatre is the oldest continuously operating community theatre in the state and has been bringing live theatre to Western Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma since 1947. The volunteer organization regularly treats guests to dramas, musicals and comedies, keeping Fort Smith entertained. Tickets range from $5-25 and some opening night performances include complimentary hors d’oeuvres and champagne prior to each performance with dessert at intermission.

Fort Smith Museum of History
320 Rogers Avenue
479-783-7841
www.fortsmith
museum.com
For 97 years, the Fort Smith Museum of History has been telling the intriguing and exciting stories of Fort Smith’s colorful past. The museum acquires, preserves, exhibits and interprets objects of historical significance relevant to the Greater Fort Smith Region, from frontier justice to manufacturing. A gift shop full of unusual gifts and a 1920s soda fountain are also available for guests. Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for children ages 6-11. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

Fort Smith Symphony
479-452-7575
www.fortsmithsymphony.org
Entering its 84th season, the Fort Smith Symphony is the oldest orchestra in the state of Arkansas and performs classical, pop, youth and community concerts in Fort Smith and the surrounding communities. The symphony boasts excellent performers from Arkansas and across the country, and received the 2005 Arkansas Governor’s Arts Award for Arts in Education. Tickets range from $13-25, with shows for youths and adults alike.

Fort Smith Trolley Museum
100 South 4th Street
479-783-0205
www.fstm.org
The Fort Smith Trolley Museum is full of fascinating displays of vintage cabooses, passenger cars, locomotives and railroad and other transportation memorabilia with a Frisco 4003 Steam Locomotive on display. Visitors can take a ride on a 1926 restored Birney Streetcar for a nostalgic ride through downtown. The museum is open Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. with free admission. The trolley runs Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tokens are $2 for adults and $1 for children.

Fort Smith History
Belle Grove Historic District
North 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Streets
This 22-block area reflects a variety of architectural styles from the past 130 years, featuring restored homes and buildings lining the streets with lush, mature trees and foliage. The district is on the National Register of Historic Places and delights visitors young and old who enjoy a stroll down memory lane.

Clayton House
514 North 6th Street
479-783-3000
www.claytonhouse
fortsmith.com
Originally built in the 1850s, this classic Victorian Renaissance baroque mansion was enlarged in 1882 by William Henry Harrison Clayton, the U.S. District Attorney in Judge Parker’s Court. The house is fully restored with Clayton family belongings and other period furnishings. The house is open for tours Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children ages 12-18.

Darby House
311 General Darby Street
479-782-3388
www.thedarbyfoundation.org
The Darby Foundation, established in 1977, restored the boyhood home of William O. Darby, the leader of Darby’s Rangers in World War II. The house is a tribute and memorial to Darby and all U.S. Rangers, and contains artifacts from Cisterna, Italy, the sister city to Fort Smith. Admission is free.

Fort Smith National Historic Site
301 Parker Avenue
479-783-3961
www.nps.gov/fosm
At the Fort Smith: Bastion of Law and Order National Historic Site, visitors can walk where soldiers drilled, pause along the Trail of Tears and stand where justice was served. The park includes the remains of two frontier forts, the federal court for “hanging judge” Isaac C. Parker, the barracks/courthouse/jail, gallows and the J.M. Sparks 1887 home.

The site is open daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and is closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission is charged with children 16 and under free.

Miss Laura’s Visitor Center
2 North B Street
1-800-637-1477
www.fortsmith.org
Miss Laura’s, the first bordello listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is now the unique setting for the Fort Smith Visitor Center. The center is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

United States National Cemetery
522 Garland and South 6th Streets
479-783-5345
Interments date from the War of 1812 and include Judge Parker, many of his deputy marshals and Gen. William O. Darby.