Fort Smith, city in western Arkansas and seat (with Greenwood) of Sebastian County. The second largest city in the state (after Little Rock), Fort Smith is located at the confluence of the Arkansas River and the Poteau River, at the Arkansas/Oklahoma border. It is an industrial center and an agricultural processing and distribution point, with huge livestock markets. Processed foods and electrical appliances are major manufactures. Nearby Fort Chaffee Military Reservation has been important to the city's history; in 1975 it housed approximately 25,000 Vietnamese refugees, and in the early 1980s Cuban immigrants were quartered at the post. Fort Chaffee was reorganized and scaled down by the federal government in 1993.
The city grew around a fort established in 1817 to keep peace between the Cherokee and Osage peoples. It is named for General Thomas A. Smith, commanding officer of the force that built the fort. The city was incorporated in 1851. A new fort (now a National Historic Site) built nearby in 1838 was vacated by the army in 1871. In 1875 the fort became a federal court, distinguished by the decisions of Judge Isaac C. Parker, who dealt sternly with lawlessness in the area. According to the 1990 census, whites constitute 85.9 percent of Fort Smith's population; blacks, 7.6 percent; people of Asian origin, 4.1 percent; and Native Americans, 1.4 percent. Hispanics, who may also be counted among other groups, make up 1.1 percent of the population. Population 71,626 (1980); 72,798 (1990); 75,637 (1998 estimate).
