Fort Smith Trolley Museum - Streetcar Line

Streetcar Line

Streetcar operation at the museum was inaugurated on May 19, 1991, using ex-Fort Smith Light and Traction Company car 224, a Birney-type streetcar built in 1926 by the American Car Company. In the first seven months of operation, though the end of 1991 (in which five months had daily operation), more than 10,000 rides were given. The initial line was about one-quarter mile long, using ex-Frisco freight tracks, along which FSSRA volunteers had installed trolley wire and support poles. It connected the carbarn, at 100 S. 4th Street, with the Fort Smith National Historic Site.

The line has been extended several times since. The first extension was opened by the city's mayor on October 9, 1994, and took the line to the gates of the Fort Smith National Cemetery. This extension, from the line's east end, more than doubled the length of operational track, making it about 2,300 ft (700 m). The trolley line carried almost 12,000 passengers in 1994.

At the line's west end, an extension of the track and wires to Garrison Avenue, the town's main street, opened on August 29, 1996. This short extension included a crossing of Rogers Avenue, and the city council funded the cost of the crossing installation, citing the line's value as a tourist attraction. This section passes behind the Fort Smith Museum of History, located in the NRHP-listed Atkinson-Williams Warehouse building. The first extension since 1996 was opened on November 24, 2002, starting with a curve just before the previous terminus at Garrison between 3rd and 4th streets and running along the south side of Garrison Avenue, to 2nd Street. This is within the West Garrison Avenue Historic District, which is also listed on the NRHP.

At the other end of the line, a very short extension in May 2005 took the track across Wheeler Avenue to a new terminus at 7th Street, making the line about 3,000 feet (900 m) in length. A much longer extension from there is planned. It will take the line from current terminus by the National Cemetery and the Fort Smith Convention Center, north along 7th Street to Rogers Avenue, then east and through parking areas on the north side of Rogers to Garrison.