Fort Smith, AR

Fort Smith began at Belle Point, a bluff overlooking the confluence of the Arkansas and Poteau rivers. Place names such as Poteau, Belle Point, and Massard Prairie reflect French trappers’ earlier use of the river system, and the Pike Expedition surveyed the Arkansas River corridor in 1806. U.S. Army troops established the first fort at Belle Point in November 1817. The modern city sits on the Arkansas–Oklahoma border between the Ozark and Ouachita mountains, is one of two Sebastian County seats, and counted 89,142 residents in 2020. Downtown and the Chaffee Crossing Historic District contain several museums. The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith began in 1928 as Fort Smith Junior College, an extension of the public-school system, before evolving through Westark Junior College and Westark Community College.