October 25-29

Rain and cold kept us inside most of our stay at the Spring Hill COE Park in Barling, Arkansas and then at Aux Arc COE Park in Ozark, Arkansas. 

We did venture out on the one sunny day we had while at Aux Arc to Fort Smith National Historic Site.

 

 

We began our tour at the visitor Center where we watched a short film detailing the significance of the fort and then walked through the extensive exhibit hall.

 

 

The visitor center is located in the old Barracks/Courthouse/Jail building. 

 

 

The exhibits focus on Fort Smith’s military history from 1817-1871, western expansion, Judge Isaac Parker and the federal court’s impact on the Indian Territory.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Judge Parker became known as the Hanging Judge due to the large number of convicts whom he sentenced to death.

Also on the grounds is a reconstruction of the gallows used by the federal court.  From 1836 – 1896, eighty-six men were hanged for the crimes of murder and rape.

 

After leaving the visitor center we drove a short distance to Miss Laura’s Social Club that serves as the Fort Smith Visitor Center.

Miss Laura’s was one of seven row houses that lined Fort Smith’s Old West red light district.   

The building is the only house of ill-repute on the row that survived a tornado.

The site, fully restored to its original grandeur is currently the only former bordello on the National Register of Historic Places.

Laura Ziegler, an enterprising prostitute, was able to get a $3,000 loan in 1904 to open the bordello.

Miss Laura’s Social Club became the most seductive brothel in a city with several bawdy houses. 

In 1910 a fire on Front Street forced occupants of the house to run down the street in their underclothes resulting in the event now known as “the night of the lingerie parade.”

Most of the girls who worked at Miss Laura’s were from farms around the area who came into town to get a job and make a living.  Prior to 1924 when prostitution was still legal in Fort Smith, prostitutes were required to pay a $5 certification fee each month.