302 replies to this topic

[Aporkalypse]

Mith242, on Oct 19 2005, 02:42 PM, said:

Maybe I'll have to make a little trip down there sometime.  Any comparisons to say something the the Square in Fayetteville?

More of a long strip like Dickson with larger buildings than a square like Fayetteville or Bentonville.  There's a lot more there because in the old days it was a much bigger town but there are more run-down buildings than Fayetteville where everything is occupied and mostly renovated.

The old museums are great, the old Hangin' Judge Isaac Parker's jail and gallows, etc are set up as a nice museum.

[Aporkalypse]

mcheiss, on Oct 19 2005, 03:29 PM, said:

Haven't seen much of Van Buren except on the way to Ft. Smith.

If you do go to Fort Smith, some good restaurants are Varsity Sports Grill and Bella Italia.

Downtown Van Buren has some gorgeous old buildings, really on a Eureka-type scale.

Edited by Aporkalypse, 21 October 2005 - 11:32 PM.

[Mith242]

Aporkalypse, on Oct 22 2005, 12:31 AM, said:

Downtown Van Buren has some gorgeous old buildings, really on a Eureka-type scale.

Wow, I'll certainly have to stop in Van Buren too whenever I get down there to visit.  Nice Victorian architecture and unlike Eureka Springs more businesses than houses.

[mcheiss]

Aporkalypse, on Oct 22 2005, 12:27 AM, said:

More of a long strip like Dickson with larger buildings than a square like Fayetteville or Bentonville.  There's a lot more there because in the old days it was a much bigger town but there are more run-down buildings than Fayetteville where everything is occupied and mostly renovated.

The old museums are great, the old Hangin' Judge Isaac Parker's jail and gallows, etc are set up as a nice museum.

That is a pretty nice museum. I've been to it. I liked the the exhibit that showd the jail and what it looked like back then.

[arkansas_buff]

Anyone know anything about this?  Pryor, Lincoln, and Boozman were meeting with officials to try and convince them to locate a US Marshals Service museum in Ft. Smith.  It would be a great addition to the city, and I think FS has a good chance because of its rich history as a military post.

[mcheiss]

arkansas_buff, on Nov 10 2005, 02:13 PM, said:

Anyone know anything about this?  Pryor, Lincoln, and Boozman were meeting with officials to try and convince them to locate a US Marshals Service museum in Ft. Smith.  It would be a great addition to the city, and I think FS has a good chance because of its rich history as a military post.

Haven't heard anything on that I'm afraid.

It would be great because of the military post that Fort Smith once was and the frontier that laid beyond Fort Smith in the past.

That would be a great development in Fort Smith.

BTW, where did you hear about this?

[Mith242]

That is interesting news.  Ft Smith has had an interesting history and it would be great to try to draw on that.

[Arkansawyer]

mcheiss, on Nov 10 2005, 02:16 PM, said:

Haven't heard anything on that I'm afraid.

It would be great because of the military post that Fort Smith once was and the frontier that laid beyond Fort Smith in the past.

That would be a great development in Fort Smith.

BTW, where did you hear about this?

Here's an article about it from the Arkansas News Bureau.

This museum would fit in very well with the other attractions in Fort Smith. Hopefully Fort Smith lands it.

[Mith242]

Arkansawyer, on Nov 10 2005, 04:29 PM, said:

Here's an article about it from the Arkansas News Bureau.

This museum would fit in very well with the other attractions in Fort Smith. Hopefully Fort Smith lands it.

Thanks for posting the article Arkansawyer.  I never knew Ft Smith had more marshals buried there than any other location.

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Nov 10 2005, 05:23 PM, said:

Thanks for posting the article Arkansawyer.  I never knew Ft Smith had more marshals buried there than any other location.

I just saw the story on the news.

This would be a pretty big attraction, drawing an excess of around 100,000 visitors to start out with.

[SoMplsGuy]

I went to high school in the Fort (southside) in the late 80's and I have to say I wasn't a big fan of the place. I've since been back many times (Parents live there) and well, I'm still not a big fan of the place. They have made big strides in the downtown area which is the only part of town that I like. My only real problem with downtown is that Garrison avenue is so wide as to negate any feel of density or urbanity that the place might otherwise have. But there are many neat little resturaunts and bars and that's good because as soon as you get to the top of that hill and head towards that mall it's all over - ugly sprawl for miles.  It's like a giant suburb of what - Barling? The one thing that just amazes me every time I'm back there is that unless you are downtown or on that new U of A campus is that there are no sidewalks in that town. None. My parents look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them I'm walking somewhere that is a mile away. I hope this doesn't sound too negative - I'm not one to diss people's towns - but the best thing about the Fort is it's proximity to a major interstate.

[Mith242]

SoMplsGuy, on Nov 18 2005, 12:50 AM, said:

I went to high school in the Fort (southside) in the late 80's and I have to say I wasn't a big fan of the place. I've since been back many times (Parents live there) and well, I'm still not a big fan of the place. They have made big strides in the downtown area which is the only part of town that I like. My only real problem with downtown is that Garrison avenue is so wide as to negate any feel of density or urbanity that the place might otherwise have. But there are many neat little resturaunts and bars and that's good because as soon as you get to the top of that hill and head towards that mall it's all over - ugly sprawl for miles.  It's like a giant suburb of what - Barling? The one thing that just amazes me every time I'm back there is that unless you are downtown or on that new U of A campus is that there are no sidewalks in that town. None. My parents look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them I'm walking somewhere that is a mile away. I hope this doesn't sound too negative - I'm not one to diss people's towns - but the best thing about the Fort is it's proximity to a major interstate.

I can't say I know a whole lot about Ft Smith so it's interesting to hear someone's opinion of the place.  I imagine other Arkansas cities have some of the same problems.  There used to be big areas even in Fayetteville that didn't have any sidewalks.  But I think the last 3-4 years they've been trying to put in sidewalks just about everywhere.  Even College Ave, where I imagine most people would also look at you crazy if you told them you were going to walk along there.

[Aporkalypse]

SoMplsGuy, on Nov 18 2005, 12:50 AM, said:

I went to high school in the Fort (southside) in the late 80's and I have to say I wasn't a big fan of the place. I've since been back many times (Parents live there) and well, I'm still not a big fan of the place. They have made big strides in the downtown area which is the only part of town that I like. My only real problem with downtown is that Garrison avenue is so wide as to negate any feel of density or urbanity that the place might otherwise have. But there are many neat little resturaunts and bars and that's good because as soon as you get to the top of that hill and head towards that mall it's all over - ugly sprawl for miles.  It's like a giant suburb of what - Barling? The one thing that just amazes me every time I'm back there is that unless you are downtown or on that new U of A campus is that there are no sidewalks in that town. None. My parents look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them I'm walking somewhere that is a mile away. I hope this doesn't sound too negative - I'm not one to diss people's towns - but the best thing about the Fort is it's proximity to a major interstate.

Compared to most growing parts of Arkansas, I think of Ft Smith as having some older neighborhoods with some character and while having sprawl they have less than NWA and Central Arkansas's suburban counties.  I never considered the sidewalk issue, I guess I never paid attention.

[Mith242]

Maybe it needs some work but I would also think Ft Smith would have some interesting old neighborhoods.  It certainly has an interesting history.  I think Fayetteville is pretty old by Ozarks standards but it's still not too much compared to Ft Smith's history.  Would anyone say it's a bigger version of Springdale in some ways?  I don't know the city too well but I thought maybe it was a bit more of a blue collar type city.  I get the impression it's a bit quiet and there's not a whole lot to do in some ways despite it's size.  What are other people's impressions of it?

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Nov 18 2005, 01:12 PM, said:

Maybe it needs some work but I would also think Ft Smith would have some interesting old neighborhoods.  It certainly has an interesting history.  I think Fayetteville is pretty old by Ozarks standards but it's still not too much compared to Ft Smith's history.  Would anyone say it's a bigger version of Springdale in some ways?  I don't know the city too well but I thought maybe it was a bit more of a blue collar type city.  I get the impression it's a bit quiet and there's not a whole lot to do in some ways despite it's size.  What are other people's impressions of it?

To me it's a town with a great history with the National Cemetary, Downtown, The National Historic Site, and it's "Frontierism".

It also seems more blue collared to me.

Edited by mcheiss, 18 November 2005 - 01:20 PM.

[SoMplsGuy]

I know the Fort is comming along - certianly the tornado a few years ago didn't help - so I hope that one post of mine wasn't too negative. Of course, a town of it's size will have a few things going for it . Like I said, the downtown has a lot going on. I've eaten at Bella Italia (REALLY nice victorian mansion), checked out the river ampitheater and toured the Hanging Judge's court. My personal problem is that my parents live way on the other side of town among the never ending sea of parking lots and chain stores along rogers ave. So when I'm in town I don't spend as much time as I'd like in the part of town that is cool. It certianly was a tough place to go to high school - there was nothing at all to do (we'd actually hang out at the McDonnalds because there was nowhere to go). Good thing Fayettville was close by and we could go up the hill to see bands.
  Oh yeah, one thing you guys in the Fort can take a lot of pride in is that new (may not be new, but it's new to me) Library. Here in Minneapolis, we're building a new library which will open next spring. The one it is replacing - the one that was downtown for 40 years - couldn't hold a candle to the Fort Smith library. I was amazed the first time I saw that thing because it dwarfed the minneapolis library at the time and we have 3 million people in this town. Impressive.

[Mith242]

SoMplsGuy, on Nov 19 2005, 12:26 AM, said:

I know the Fort is comming along - certianly the tornado a few years ago didn't help - so I hope that one post of mine wasn't too negative. Of course, a town of it's size will have a few things going for it . Like I said, the downtown has a lot going on. I've eaten at Bella Italia (REALLY nice victorian mansion), checked out the river ampitheater and toured the Hanging Judge's court. My personal problem is that my parents live way on the other side of town among the never ending sea of parking lots and chain stores along rogers ave. So when I'm in town I don't spend as much time as I'd like in the part of town that is cool. It certianly was a tough place to go to high school - there was nothing at all to do (we'd actually hang out at the McDonnalds because there was nowhere to go). Good thing Fayettville was close by and we could go up the hill to see bands.
  Oh yeah, one thing you guys in the Fort can take a lot of pride in is that new (may not be new, but it's new to me) Library. Here in Minneapolis, we're building a new library which will open next spring. The one it is replacing - the one that was downtown for 40 years - couldn't hold a candle to the Fort Smith library. I was amazed the first time I saw that thing because it dwarfed the minneapolis library at the time and we have 3 million people in this town. Impressive.

I don't think I've heard too much about the Ft Smith library.  All the news up here has been all the new or expanded libraries here in northwest Arkansas.  For the matter of not much to do I guess most places in Arkansas are that way.  Little Rock is big enough to have some stuff obviously and Fayetteville was lucky to be a college town all those years.  I don't know when exactly but I'm hoping to head down to Ft Smith/Van Buren and take some pics in the near future.  Any recommendations would be appreciated.  

[mcheiss]

I've got some news on Fort Smith.

Developers are now planning on building a Target and a Belk Department Store at the intersection of near Phoenix Avenue and Interstate 540. These two stores will be in a much larger shopping center as well.

Academy Sports has also announced it is going to build a location along Phoenix Avenue.

Edited by mcheiss, 19 November 2005 - 04:30 PM.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Nov 19 2005, 11:10 AM, said:

I've got some news on Fort Smith.

Developers are now planning on building a Target and a Belk Department Store at the intersection of near Phoenix Avenue and Interstate 540. These two stores will be in a much larger shopping center as well.

Academy Sports has also announced it is going to build a location along Phoenix Avenue.

Anyone heard how the malls are doing there?  Seems like there was one that was doing pretty well but the other one was having a hard time.  That was a while back ago so I was wondering if maybe one of them had closed by now.

[Mith242]

Anyone notice that Beverly has found a new buyer?  Here's an article about it at Arkansas Business

http://www.arkansasb.....EE}&aid=42492