Fort Smith National Historic site Courthouse taken during a heavy snow storm at night.
In 1872 the Federal Court for the Western District of Arkansas moved into the building, using one room as a courtroom and the other rooms as offices for the clerk, U.S.Marshall, and U.S. Commissioner. The basement became a primitive jail.
In this building, Judge Issac C. Parker presided over the court cases from 1875-1889. In 1890, the court moved three blocks down the street to a new building. Public clamor over the conditions in the jail, which those confined there called “Hell on the Border,” led in 1887 to the construction of a new jail with more modern cell arrangements. This building continued to serve as a federal jail until 1917.