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| Restoration
of the historic site was completed about three years ago (2002).
Included in the restoration is a small section of the front gate
seen in this picture in the left foreground at the Garrison Avenue
entrance to the site. |
The
site includes some Civil War era cannons. Live fire demonstrations
are given the first Saturday of the month. Just noise, smoke and
fire, no cannon balls involved. In this picture is the gallows
(the white structure in the background). |
| Click
on any image for a full-sized photo. Use your browser's "Back"
button to return to this page. Pictured on the right is the north-west
side of Judge Parker's courthouse (left) and the "new"
jail wing (right). The view is from the railroad tracks on the path
to Belle Point looking towards Garrison Avenue. At the time
this photo was taken the site was still undergoing restoration. |
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The
cell block of the "new" jail is partially reconstructed
to give visitors a feel for its size. There were three tiers
of four cells each. The block was two cells wide by four cells
long and three tiers high. The cells were completely enclosed
within the jail building by metal grating . The picture at lower
left shows the lower tier of four cells on the west side of the
building. The open cell in the middle of the picture was Cherokee
Bill's cell when he attempted his futile jail break. The metal
grating surrounding the cell block (only partially restored to give
a better view of the cells) gave added security. The enclosed cell
block was called the "bull pen." The guards patrolled
the cell block from outside the bull pen. |
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Inside the
old jail. The tub was used for bathing. Buckets by the fireplace
(not seen here, just out of the photo to the left) were used as
toilets.
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Above is a photo of what was the only
entrance to the old jail (today you can enter the jail from the
National Park bookstore on the south end of the wing). Just above
the jail was Judge Parker's courtroom. In the summertime
the stench from the jail filled the courtroom which may explain
why jury deliberations were usually short.
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The "new jail" was a vast
improvement over the old one beneath the court room. The
old jail was such a disgrace that it was known as "Hell on
the Border" and Judge Parker and Fort Smith were vilified
in the press by its wretched conditions. Judge Parker lobbied
for years for a new jail before Congress finally appropriated
funds to build the new wing.
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| Judge
Parker's courtroom has been restored to the way it looked when the
federal court was held in this building. The earlier version that
was here was actually based on the courtroom in the Federal building
down the street. That courthouse was built much later and
used by Parker only during the last few years of his life. |
Another
view of the original courtroom. The National Park Service used great
care in recreating the room from archeological and historical evidence.
The site is now as historically accurate as possible. Many
articles, including Parker's law books, are the originals.
Wall paper and rugs were recreated using surviving samples of the
original materials. |
Entrance
to the park from the south side parking lot. In the upper
right of the picture is the courthouse and jail. |
The
doorway in the upper right is the entrance to the National
Park book store and courthouse building |
A
visit to the National Historic Site makes a delightful family
day trip |
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