Progress on U.S. Marshals Service Museum Continues

Plans are moving forward for the development of the United States Marshals Service (USMS) national museum in Fort Smith . It's only been 11 months since the site selection announcement   was made by USMS Director John Clark earlier this year, and so much has transpired since January that it's impossible to encapsulate everything into this small space.  In order to keep subscribers to "BORDERLINES" informed about the museum project, we will now be sending periodic updates with "special editions" of the Fort Smith Convention and Visitors Bureau electronic news.

J.R Howard, U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Arkansas , U.S. Marshal Service Director John Clark, and Richard O'Connell, U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Arkansas .

In March - just a few weeks after the announcement - USMS Director John Clark and Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe met in Fort Smith, as part of a community-wide "Welcome Home" celebration. Governor Beebe publicly and privately pledged his support for the project.  Since that time, the Fort Smith legislative delegation, as well as the governing boards from Sebastian County and the City of Fort Smith have all made financial contributions, providing seed money for the museum's national fund raising effort.

Former Senior Vice Chancellor for the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith (UAFS),Dr. Sandi Sanders , accepted the position as Project Director for the U.S. Marshals Museum in the spring and is guiding the initial development of the museum.

A Board of Directors for the museum has been established and, in just the governing body's second meeting, the board selected a location on the banks of the Arkansas River as the site for the Museum. The land has been donated by the family of Fort Smith business leader Robbie Westphal.

In late October, Fort Smith hosted a national symposium on Marshals Service history, as organized by Marshals Service Historian David S.Turk. The University of Arkansas - Fort Smith provided an appropriately academic setting for the event. The symposium featured an impressive list of presenters, nationally-recognized authors and Civil Rights legend James Meredith. 

The Fort Smith Public Library and the UAFS also teamed up recently to host an event to encourage descendants of USMS and Native American Tribal Police to step forward and share their family history and artifacts in an effort to continue to document Service history in the area.  "Descendants Day 2007" resulted in the recording of some thirty five oral histories and documenting of those family treasures from USMS history.

Dr. Sandi Sanders, Project Director for the U. S. Marshals Museum is presented a cermonial pair of handcuffs by Mike Blevins, USMS Chief Deputy for the Western District of Arkansas, at the event marking the arrival of historic artifacts in Fort Smith. The handcuffs helped symbolically secure the doors on the big rig provided by ABF Freight System, Inc. of Fort Smith.

In early November, the artifacts which will create the heart of the museum exhibits were transported to Arkansas where they will be stored until the Fort Smith facility is completed.  The five thousand square feet of artifacts are owned by the Marshals Service and comprised a traveling exhibit before they were featured in the previous USMS Museum.  The artifacts were transported cross country by Fort Smith based transportation firm ABF Freight System, Inc.

The "story line" to present the colorful history of the U.S. Marshals Service is currently under development, and the staff and Board welcome suggestions, which can be sent to:

U.S. Marshals Museum
612 Garrison Avenue
Fort Smith, AR 72901

OR

marshalsmuseum@fortsmithchamber.com

Depending on the status of the national fund raising campaign, officials have set the fall of 2008 as a potential date for ground breaking, with tentative opening in 2011. 

The United States Marshals Museum will depict the 218 years of history of the oldest law enforcement agency in the United States.

For all other questions and concerns please send a separate email to tourism@fortsmith.org.

FORT SMITH CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU
2 North B • Fort Smith, Arkansas 72901
Phone: 1-800-637-1477 • (479) 783-8888
Fax: (479) 784-2421
E-Mail: tourism@fortsmith.org

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