Arkansas Real Estate & Relocation Guide

Fort Smith, Arkansas

Population: 83,461

Located in Sebastian County

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 is one of two county seats of Sebastian County. It is also the principal city of the Fort Smith Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses the counties of Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian in Arkansas, and Le Flore and Sequoyah in Oklahoma. As of 2007, Fort Smith was selected by the US Department of the Interior to be the location of the new US Marshal Service National Museum.

Economy
Fort Smith has long been a regional manufacturing center, with major plants located in the city operated by Whirlpool Corporation, Rheem, Trane, Georgia-Pacific, Gerber, Planters Peanuts and others. In recent years, following national trends, the city has seen a decline in manufacturing jobs as production lines are shifted overseas. Fort Smith is home to several corporations including Baldor Electric Company, Arkansas Best Corporation, Golden Ventures (one of the largest nursing home health care providers in the nation) and poultry company OK Foods. Fort Smith is also home to regional medical centers in Sparks Regional Medical Center and St. Edward Mercy Medical Center.

Education
There are two public high schools in the city of Fort Smith, Northside High School (Grizzlies) and Southside High School (Rebels). The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith is the city's only state supported institution of higher learning, however, Webster University and John Brown University each have a satellite campus located in the city.

Arts & Culture
The Fort Smith Art Center, which is housed in the Vaughn-Schaap House in the Belle Grove Historic District, is an architectural work of art and a rare exquisite example of the Victorian style buildings in Fort Smith.

The Western Arkansas Ballet Company offers lavish productions of well-known ballets and operates a ballet academy with summer ballet instruction for local children and adults. The Fort Smith Symphony Orchestra performs classical and popular music throughout the region.

If the theater is more to your taste, you will want to visit the Fort Smith Little Theater -- a local production company that hosts comedies, dramas and musicals year-round at its facilities on North 5th Street. You can also catch a performance of "The Medicine Show on Hanging Day" at Miss Laura's Visitor Center, featuring Miss Laura and Hanging Judge Parker as characters.

Source: wikipedia.org and fsark.com
Photo Source: Tom Holland and fsark.com