Fort Smith

Population of Fort Smith: 80268

Fort Smith is situated at the junction of the Arkansas and Poteau rivers. It is a city and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County, Arkansas. It is also the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Fort Smith, Arkansas and the Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian, Arkansas and Le Flore and Sequoyah, Oklahoma counties. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 80,268, making it the state's second most populous city behind Little Rock. There are only two high schools in the city of Fort Smith (leading to quite a rivalry between them), Northside High School (the Grizzlies) and Southside High School (the 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.

Fort Smith was founded in 1817 as a military settlement to patrol the neighboring Indian Territory. The Fort was abandoned in 1824 but a town founded by John Rogers had formed alongside the Fort by that time. In 1838 the Fort was re-occupied and expanded. In 1871 the Fort was again abandoned. However, the town continued to thrive despite the absence of the Fort.

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