Fort Smith lies on the Arkansas–Oklahoma state border, situated at the confluence of the Arkansas and Poteau rivers, also known as Belle Point.

The United States acquired the territory and large areas west of the Mississippi River from France in the Louisiana Purchase (1803).

It was named after General Thomas Adams Smith (1781–1844), who commanded the United States Army Rifle Regiment in 1817, headquartered near St. Louis.

General Smith had ordered Army topographical engineer Stephen H. Long (1784–1864) to find a suitable site on the Arkansas River for a fort.

Due to the strategic location of this site, the federal government re-established a military presence at Fort Smith during the Indian removal era of the 1830s, primarily of tribes from the American Southeast to west of the Mississippi River in Indian Territory, which is present-day Oklahoma.

The army enforced the removal of these tribes to the reserved Indian Territory, where the federal government set aside land that was less fertile while imposing detentes between distinct nations.

Many displaced people stopped walking and settled in Fort Smith and adjoining Van Buren on the other side of the river.

In 1858, Fort Smith was designated as a Division Center of the Butterfield Overland Mail's 7th Division route across Indian Territory from Fort Smith to Texas and as a junction with the mail route from Memphis, Tennessee, an important port on the east side of the Mississippi River.

A small fight occurred there on July 31, 1864, but the Union Army maintained command in the area until the war ended in 1865.

As a result, many refugee slaves, orphans, Southern Unionists, and others came here to escape the guerrilla warfare raging in Arkansas, Missouri, and the border states.

In 1874, William Clayton was appointed United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas by President Ulysses S. Grant.

Fort Smith was a bustling community full of brothels, saloons, and outlaws, just across the river from Indian Territory.

At that time, the Fort Smith district not only held the responsibility for law in Western Arkansas, but also the Indian Territory.

He was nicknamed the "Hanging Judge": in his first term after assuming his post, he tried 18 people for murder, convicted 15 of them, and sentenced eight of those to die.

His courthouse is now marked as a National Historic Site, where "more men were put to death by the U.S. Government... than in any other place in American history.

He was instrumental in achieving statehood for Oklahoma in 1907, after Native American claims were extinguished by distribution of communal lands under the Dawes Act and the breakup of tribal governments.

Together with Territorial Governor Frank Frantz, Clayton took a copy of the Oklahoma Constitution to President Theodore Roosevelt after the state was admitted to the Union in 1907.

[8] The storm tracked from eastern Pittsburg County, Oklahoma into Fort Smith and Van Buren, Arkansas.

Days later, the damaged Eads Brothers Furniture building in downtown Fort Smith was destroyed by one of the largest fires in the city's history.

16.5% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race (11.6% Mexican, 2.2% Salvadoran, 0.4% Guatemalan, 0.3% Puerto Rican, 0.2% Honduran, 0.1% Cuban, 0.1% Peruvian, 0.1% Colombian).

Fort Smith has long been a regional manufacturing center, with major plants located in the city operated by Rheem, Trane, Georgia-Pacific, Gerber, Kraft Heinz Company-Planters Peanuts, Mars Petcare, Umarex USA, Graphic Packaging, International Paper, Pernod Ricard-USA, and many others.

Fort Smith is home to several corporations, including ABB Motors & Mechanical, ArcBest and poultry company OK Foods.

According to the city's 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[19] the top employers in the city are: Various television programs and movies have been filmed in Fort Smith, including The Blue and The Gray (1982), A Soldier's Story (1984), Biloxi Blues (1988)[20] Trespass and Tuskegee Airmen (1995) There are multiple museums in Fort Smith, located primarily in the downtown area and the Chaffee Crossing Historic District.

There are frequent live performances in the downtown area by local and national Jazz, Blues, Country, Americana and Rock bands.

In September 1952, the college moved from borrowed facilities in the high school to its current site, initially occupying 15 acres (6.07 ha).

In addition to the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith (UAFS), the Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine (ARCOM), a private, non-profit institution, welcomed its inaugural class in August 2017.

The city is located on the Arkansas River, part of the McClellan-Kerr Navigation System and is served by the Port of Fort Smith.

As of January 2015, FST operates 6 fixed routes, as well as paratransit service for disabled persons and Demand Buses.

The city announced August 12, 2021, that the Massard Water Reclamation Facility would need to undergo a $22 million upgrade to avoid failure.

Fort Smith has a sister city relationship with Cisterna di Latina, Italy, site of the World War II Battle of Cisterna, fought by United States Army Rangers commanded by Fort Smith native William Orlando Darby.