Ft. Smith, Arkansas
| Fort Smith | |||
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| City | |||
| City of Fort Smith | |||
Downtown Fort Smith
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| Nickname(s): Hell on the Border | |||
 Location of Fort Smith, Arkansas |
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 Fort Smith
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| Coordinates: 35°22′7″N 94°23′55″W / 35.36861°N 94.39861°WCoordinates: 35°22′7″N 94°23′55″W / 35.36861°N 94.39861°W | |||
| Country | United States | ||
| State | Arkansas | ||
| County | Sebastian | ||
| Founded | 1817 | ||
| Incorporated | 1842 | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Sandy Sanders | ||
| • Board of Directors |
Board of Directors
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| Area | |||
| • City | 64.6 sq mi (170.5 km2) | ||
| • Land | 61.7 sq mi (160.5 km2) | ||
| • Water | 3.9 sq mi (10.0 km2) | ||
| Elevation | 463 ft (141.1 m) | ||
| Population (2010) | |||
| • City | 86,209 | ||
| • Estimate (2015) | 88,194 | ||
| • Density | 1,391.2/sq mi (537.2/km2) | ||
| • Urban | 122,947 (US: 257th) | ||
| • Metro | 279,974 (US: 165th) | ||
| Time zone | CST (UTC-6) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) | ||
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Zip codes
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| Area code(s) | 479 | ||
| FIPS code | 05-24550 | ||
| GNIS feature ID | 0076952 | ||
| Website | City of Fort Smith | ||
Fort Smith is the second-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 86,209. With an estimated population of 87,443 in 2012, 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 Le Flore and Sequoyah.
Fort Smith has a sister city relationship with Cisterna, Italy, site of the World War II Battle of Cisterna, fought by United States Army Rangers commanded by Fort Smith native William O. Darby.
Fort Smith lies on the Arkansas-Oklahoma state border, situated at the junction of the Arkansas and Poteau Rivers, also known as Belle Point. The city began as a western frontier military post in 1817 and would later become well known for its role in the settling of the "Wild West" and its law enforcement heritage.
In 2007, Fort Smith was selected by the United States Department of the Interior to be the location of the new United States Marshals Service National Museum.
The site that would later become Fort Smith became part of the United States in the Louisiana Purchase (1803). Soon after, the Pike Expedition (1806) explored the Arkansas River. Fort Smith was founded in 1817 as a military post. Around the fort a small settlement began forming, but the Army abandoned the first Fort Smith in 1824 and moved 80 miles further west to Fort Gibson. Army sutler and land speculator John Rogers (who some genealogists claim to be an ancestor to 20th-century Oklahoma comedian Will Rogers) bought up former government-owned lands and promoted growth of the new civilian town of Fort Smith, eventually influencing the federal government to re-establish a military presence at Fort Smith during the era of Indian Removal and the Mexican War.
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Wikipedia