Fort Smith History: March 6-12
March 6, 1824: Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott, commander of the Western District, orders Col. Matthew Arbuckle, then the fort commander, to move the fort from Fort Smith to the mouth of the Verdigris River, establishing what will become Fort Gibson.
March 7, 1986: The Fort Smith National Historic Site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
March 8, 1867: Fort Smith is rechartered and expanded.
March 8, 1895: The U.S. Secretary of War approves plans of the Fort Smith and Van Buren Railway Co. to construct a railway bridge across the Arkansas River near Van Buren.
March 8, 1924: John T. Barret of Fort Smith breaks the record at the Georgia Tech Freshman Cross Country Run at Grant Field in Atlanta. Barret, a sophomore, finished the 3½-mile race in 18 minutes, 44 seconds.
March 9, 1884: A morning fire originating from a bedroom stove destroys the home of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Parker on North C Street. “The hook and ladder company did good work pulling down the adjoining outhouses and parts of the burned building,” the Fort Smith New Era reports.
March 9, 1909: James Lowrey, deputy constable and night watchman at the Fair Store, is found dead after an apparent accidental shooting at the Pony Express barn on North 10th Street.
March 9, 1968: Northside’s Jerry Jennings sinks a jump shot with four seconds left to give the Grizzlies a 46-44 victory over Southside in the finals of the Class AAA State Tournament. “I had to hit it,” Jennings said. “I had to. I wanted to keep it from going into overtime.” The Grizzlies, top-ranked team in the state for the past several weeks, close the season with 25 straight victories.
March 10, 1880: John Foster Wheeler, who established the first newspaper in Fort Smith, the Fort Smith Herald, in 1847, dies at age 71. Wheeler also helped establish the first Native American newspaper in the U.S. in 1828, was mayor from 1854-55 and was one of three charter members of First Presbyterian Church.
March 10, 2007: The Northside boys basketball team captures its first state championship since 1974 with a 54-47 win over Springdale Har-Ber in the 7A boys basketball state championship.
March 11, 1884: Samuel N. Fisher is commissioned as a U.S. deputy marshal in the Western District at Fort Smith serving under Marshal Thomas Boles.
March 12, 2002: The U.S. Tennis Association names the Randy and Leslie Jackson family of Fort Smith as the 2001 USTA Tennis Family of the Year.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Fort Smith History: March 6-12