Fort Smith, AR, Ft. Smith, Arthur Subdivisions, MP 415.4

I am researching the Frisco depot in Ft Smith, Arkansas.

I am trying to find the original design drawings from 1906 along with any early photographs of the station and surrounding area.

Information about employees working at the Ft Smith station would also be great.

I can be contacted at Ft Smith National Historic Site in Ft Smith.

Thanks

 

I am researching the 1906 Frisco depot located in Ft Smith Arkansas .

I need to locate any drawings or plans of the original 1906 design and layout as well as any photographs that might be available.

The building has undergone several renovations for various uses so we are trying to establish how much of the original interior layout and design is still intact.

We would also like to find out about the employees who worked at this site.

Any and all information would be appreciated.

I can be contacted at Ft Smith National Historic Site, 479-783-3961 or thru email at the following.

peggy_nelson@nps.gov.

Our mail address is Box 1406, Ft. Smith, AR 72902.

 

Ft. Smith, AR.

Photograph dated 3/27/1996.

 

Hello Frisco Folks,

Here are some photographs that I have came across of the Frisco depot in Ft. Smith, AR.

Take Care,

Rich

Ship it on the Frisco!

Edit 3/19/2024: Photograph 5 is of the St. Smith Union Station depot. The depot was a joint agency between the Frisco and The Kansas City Southern (KCS) Railroad.
MKD

 

This web site has extensive coverage of railroads in Fort Smith, AR and Van Buren, AR.

http://www.cbu.edu/~mcondren/FSVB-Railroad-Pages.htm

Tomd6

 

Another view of the Frisco depot in Ft. Smith, AR.

Take care,

Rich

Ship it on the Frisco!

 

Here are some views of the Fort Smith, AR depot taken on May 27, 2005.

This building sure has seen many changes over the years!

Photographs by Rich Lawler.

 

In the window next to the Judge Parker mural is a Frisco coonskin and steam train etched into the glass.

On the top of it it says welcome to the Frisco station.

 

The Arkansas-Boston Mountains Chapter, National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) is sponsoring a mixed train and photograph shoot weekend in Fort Smith, AR on June 23-24, 2007.

Saturday will include three railroad history programs and a night photograph shoot of Fort Smith Trolley Museum Birney Car 224. Sunday will have an 80-mile mixed train roundtrip between Fort Smith, AR and Winslow, AR.

It will be pulled by an Alco C-420 of the Arkansas and Missouri (A&M) Railroad. There will be four photograph stops including the former Frisco yard at Fort Smith. Coach, Parlor and Caboose seating is available. Prior to the Sunday trip the Fort Smith Frisco depot will be open for visitors.

For the trip flyer please send an email to the following.

daching@cox.net .

 

Here is a side elevation drawing of the building, taken from the December 6, 1903 Fort Smith News Record.

This drawing illustrates a somewhat shorter building. The grand opening of the depot was set for Wednesday, December 9. This article states that the building was built from white, Eureka Springs "sawed stone" (limestone?), and that the track platform extended one block to Rogers Avenue.

The photograph shows the east side of the building as it looked in 1922. The Missouri Pacific (MP or MoP) passenger depot is across the tracks. At this date Frisco passenger trains have shared the Fort Smith Union Station with the Kansas City Southern (KCS) for almost a decade.

The map represents the state of things in 1906.

1 = Iron Mountain (MoPac) passenger depot.
2 = 1903 Frisco passenger depot.
3 = Iron Mountain (MoPac) freight house.
4 = Former Frisco passenger depot.
5 = Frisco freight house.

The Frisco spur along Garland Ave at the bottom of the map would later be extended to provide access to yet another new station, the Frisco/KCS Ft. Smith Union Station.

The Midland Valley used trackage rights over the Frisco, from the south, to reach their new facilities, shown at the bottom of the map.

In Fort Smith, in 1906, the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern was further identified as "Missouri Pacific System". Their passenger station was listed as "Southwest corner of 1st and Garrison" and the freight depot as "North 1st Street between Garrison Avenue and North A Street."

The new Frisco passenger station was listed as Southeast corner of Garrison Avenue and North 1st Street and the freight depot as "Northeast corner North 1st and C Street".

All 3 Ft. Smith, AR Frisco depots seem to be represented in the original post by RICHCRAB. I am not sure, but the photograph with the dirt streets may show the original Frisco depot on the right.

The Ft. Smith streetcar light rail system at one point had a loop on the west end of Garrison which ran for a block down North A between North 3rd and North 2nd Streets.

This might be the track in the middle of the road running toward the Arkansas River?

 

Frisco and KCS Ft. Smith Union Station depot Fort Smith, AR - Sanborn Map

 

Fort Smith, AR freight house and Division Offices - Sanborn Map.

 

How or where are you guys locating the Sanborn maps?

I could really use a good set of Sanborn maps for Ft. Smith circa 1908.

Any assist would be appreciated.

Andre Ming
Poteau, OK

 

What parts of the 1908 map do you want?

See attached index map key.

 

If you have not yet been there, a lot of Fort Smith, AR area stuff, including maps is posted on Mike Condren's website.

http://www.cbu.edu/~mcondren/FSVB-Railroad-Pages.htm

 

Ask and you shall receive.

Part 1 of 1908 Sanborn map series.

In order from north to south.

Maps 84 -83-15-25-35-48-47-57-58-61

See Part 2 for the rest of the area maps.

 

Part. 2 of 1908 Sanborn map series.

In order from north to south.

Maps 65-66-67-79-71-78-79-80

 

Wow! Talk about response!

Thanks to all of you for the input.

Yes indeedy, I have scoured Mike's site for every morsel I can find. His efforts have been an immense help.

railroadguy65:

Those are a huge help.

I will be saving all of them to my "Coal Belt" folder and then printing/piecing together a hardcopy. I have to figure out where some of those individual pieces go, though!

As for what I need, well you have already given me a bunch, for that I am very grateful.

Basically I am undertaking recreating the Ft. Smith/Van Buren region, as well as southeast to Mansfield, AR, south to Hartford, AR, and southeast to Greenwood, AR, circa 1908.

Choosing 1908 allows me to have all the railroads in place in the region, but I avoid the need to add the additional work to include Ft. Smith Union Station.

I also avoid the inclusion of T model automobiles, etc. All railroads of the area will be represented, but I am going to omit operating trolley systems. More complication avoided.

I am curious though about the area north and northeast of the Frisco's Ft. Smith yard.

Do you have any 1908 maps of that?

In 1924, there was an amazing array of track and industries including a complete circle of track used to access the various factories.

I would like to see if that was in place in 1908.

The railroad activity in the area in 1908 is mind-boggling.

Consider in Ft. Smith there was the following.

Frisco
Iron Mountain & Southern
Arkansas Central
Ft. Smith & Western
Midland Valley
Kansas City Southern
Possibly also Rock Island passenger service via trackage rights over the Mansfield Branch.

In the Coal Belt region south of Ft. Smith, I will be including the following.

Frisco
Midland Valley
Iron Mountain & Southern - Greenwood, Arkansas branch.
Rock Island
Missouri & Louisiana - Said to have operated from Bonanza, Arkansas to Poteau OK, via trackage rights on the Frisco.

It is an ambitious project. But like a model railroad layout, it is only a hobby, so I will work on it as I can and as I want to.

To recreate this, I am using Microsoft's Train Simulator (MSTS) and US Digital Elevation Models to form the terrain. My MSTS route building experience allows me to be reasonably accurate given the tools I have to work with and the elevation data. That is where the Sanborn maps come into play.

Thus, any Sanborn maps from 1908 of the Ft. Smith/Van Buren region, in fact any of the target areas, would be most useful. Though I have no way of repaying you for your effort, if you are into MSTS, then I can furnish you a working copy of the route once enough is accomplished!

Modeling in a virtual world means real time, real miles. So unlike model railroading where "selective compression" is the rule of the day, in MSTS "selective omission" is the rule!

That is, how little can you include and still have the "flavor" of the prototype?

You only have so much computer resource you can consume to build a route.

To give you all an idea of what can be done in MSTS in recreating earlier era's, below you'll find a few pictures of buildings for an 1893 MSTS project of mine, as well as an in-game shot of a train at a depot.

Thanks again for all help!

Andre Ming

 

Fort Smith was not very large at that date.

The city limits ended just north and east of the yards. Frisco ETT's from the era show sidings at Oak Park, MP 411.6, and Hill, MP 413.7, They had car capacities of 15 and 7 respectively. Fort Smith is MP 415.4. Plat maps just show farms except for the small community of Oak Park on the south bank of the Arkansas River.

The Iron Mountain accessed Fort Smith two ways at this time. These were via their Greenwood Branch, Cherokee Junction to Greenwood, and over their Fort Smith Branch which was the original Little Rock and Fort Smith (LRFS) track from Van Buren, AR.

This route ran and still does parallel to the Frisco route and still used the Frisco bridge to cross the River into Van Buren, AR. The Iron Mountain had sidings at Oak Park and at Mathews, about 2 miles north of downtown Fort Smith, probably very near the Frisco's "Hill".

I think you can safely say that the area in question was almost all agricultural at the time.

 

Ok - Here area few more Sanborn maps (1908-1950) north northeast of Fort Smith, AR.

I have added the Volume 2 map 87. It is an update from 1881, 1888 and 1908.

I will see if there is anything more Northeast of Fort Smith, AR and or on the Southwest corner of Van Buren, AR.