Court operations began at the recently-abandoned fort in November, 1872, Judge William Story, presiding.

In addition, located on the grounds are the foundation remains of the first Fort Smith (1817–1824), the commissary building (c. 1838) and a reconstruction of the gallows used by the federal court.

Fort Smith was also notable as a major stop for the Choctaw and Cherokee people along the "Trail of Tears."

[1][3] The original fort was established on December 25, 1817, by Major William Bradford in order to maintain harmony between the local Osage Indians, who had long been dominant in this territory, and a band of Cherokee who had migrated west, under pressure from European Americans, from their traditional territory in the Southeast.

[5] Following the Civil War, court operations were reestablished in Van Buren before moving to Fort Smith in 1872.

[7] After the destruction of the Rogers building in a fire, United States Marshal Logan Roots received permission to move onto the recently vacated military reservation in late 1872.

[8] 1873 and 1874 saw more change as Congress responded to the outcome of an 1872 gunfight in Goingsnake District of the Cherokee Nation, an investigation into the finances of U.S.

[9] United States Representative Isaac C. Parker, a Republican from Missouri, had a history of interest in the business of the federal court in Fort Smith.

Parker, seeing the events in Fort Smith, requested instead to be appointed to the bench in the Western District of Arkansas.

Regardless of the truth in thiese stories, or lack thereof, his tenure from 1875 to 1896 is still part of the legend that has grown around him, "Parker's Ironmen," and Fort Smith.