Fort Smith Trolley Museum - Fort Smith, Arkansas - Museum Featuring Old Street Cars

Fort Smith Trolley Museum is situated at South 4th Street in Fort Smith, Arkansas. It opens Saturdays from 1am to 5pm and Sundays from 1pm to 5pm, whilst tours on week days are available only by appointment. Ride tokens are available at this museum or at the Fort Smith Museum of History on Rogers Avenue.

The museum has aimed to preserve part of the history of Fort Smith and that of the many other American cities that replaced trolley transportation with the auto. Whilst some street cars were scrapped when the service discontinued in 1933, a few were purchased and preserved by private owners. The museum's roots were founded back in 1979 when the Fort Smith Streetcar Restoration Association purchased an old streetcar, which was the Fort Smith Light & Traction #224.

The Association was also given another one by the family of Paul Alexander, who had purchased two when they ceased operating in the 1930s. Both cars were restored by the Association in a number of borrowed buildings before the current museum was purchased in 1985. The site is a working museum and equipped with a mechanic's pit and many of the tools necessary for restoration work, which visitors will be able to see when they drop by.

Car #224 was fully restored and began operating again in 1991 along track from the Trolley Museum to what is now the Fort Museum of History. This has since been extended and visitors can enjoy trips across Fort Smith on the street cars. The museum now proudly shows and runs 4 of the original 58 Fort Smith streetcars as well as having other old items of transportation.

Other pieces on display and also undergoing restoration is a 1904 Hot Springs Street Railway doubletruck car (#50), which is similar to the cars that ran in Fort Smith. Likewise there are two other items being restored that were similar to old Fort Smith cars, which are an open car #205 and a car from New Mexico. The museum also houses a rail collection with a Frisco steam engine and tender.

The Association has benefitted from receiving donations from other collections and museums such as the aforementioned Frisco engine. Visitors will also be able to see three cabooses, a former military power car and dining car, three boxcars, three internal combustion locomotives and a trackmobile. Rubber tired vehicles are also featured here with a 1939 Little Rock bus, three former Fort Smith buses, a 1932 fire truck from the city and a Ford Model TT truck used to carry groceries.

Nearby to the museum is the Fort Smith National Historic Site, where two forts once stood back in the 19th century. Visitors new to Fort Smith can pick up map of the city from Miss Laura's Social Club, which is a visitor center and former bordello. There are a number of restaurants near the Trolley Museum including Rolando's Nuevo Latino Restaurante in Garrison Avenue and Doe's Eat Place in North 3rd Street.