Review of Fort Smi,


DO NOT MOVE TO FORT SMITH ARKANSAS!!
Star Rating - 7/22/2013
I am the EXPERT on Fort Smith Arkansas. I use an alias since I was never proud of my "home town city". I grew up in Arkansas for many years. Let's just say that my family has been in the town for millennia and I know it very very well. Too well. I know the people, the culture and the history. I know how the typical "Fort Smithian" thinks to a "T". I know what they are gonna do before they even do it as I can predict events in that town and always have and been able to. Since leaving Fort Smith to go over to MUCH GREENER PASTURES IN THE USA, I NEVER tell ANYONE that I am from Arkansas, let alone the south. I lie like a rug. I do not want anyone to know I was born in Fort Smith Arkansas. It's heyday has come and went many moons ago. Arkansas is one of those states that is the butt of jokes on TV constantly along any mention of a "pet pig", the movie Deliverance, banjos playing, kissing cousins, or bestiality. When I "LEFT" Fort Smith in 1988, I left for good. I have read many of the postings on this site and I agree with all of them. Fort Smith is only a good town if you are a retiree, or you want to raise children in a largely "bible belt judgmental atmosphere" and you have money from OUTSIDE SOURCES TO SUSTAIN YOU. The economy has ALWAYS SUCKED in Fort Smith and the town fathers and the "elite" families LIKE IT THAT WAY because then they CAN CONTINUE TO PAY slave wages! This is "how" they get ahead there, by screwing everyone else financially. For such hateful people who are always saying "We're Christian!" with a toothy grin, they will also stab you in the back in a New York minute or sue you for any infraction. I never met a more sue-crazy people in my life. The one guy wrote about the jobs there and the "wonderful interview" at the medical facility. Of course he did! 'Cause people in Fort Smith get sick all the damn time! Doctors do well there, and lawyers for suing everyone. Tons of ambulance chasers there. I know. The city council and the city fathers DO NOT LIKE CHANGE of any kind, never kid and never will. It's a ghost of a town of what it once was. You are completely wasting your time there if you are out of town. Get with the program and get to Texas as soon as you can! If your grandpappy did not take a miniball during the Civil War - they are still fighting the Civil War by the way - and if your daddy is not a doctor, lawyer, or owns Central Mall in town - you don't stand a chance. The people there only care about WHAT YOU HAVE and WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR THEM TODAY!? There is ALWAYS an ulterior motive to conversation. They either want you to go to their church or they want money from you. The apartments are dilapidated plantation shacks that probably have a germ infestation rate more than the national average. There are some "nice" people there, but few and far between. Most of the people are onry, broke, fat from eating all the fried foods, and stupid to be honest. Fort Smith once had the unique qualifying award in the 1970's of "having more fast food restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the country!" Geez, something to "take pride" in huh? More fried food. Go to the local Fort Smith Walmart and you'll see more fat Walmartians than you can throw a fried chicken stick at. I don't mean "pleasantly plump", I mean gargantuan FAT. Men and women alike. Their pants barely fit over their fannies. There has always been a "rich elite" running Fort Smth - and there are some damn nice homes there. But......there is NOTHING to do but go to Central Mall, eat out, and go home. Golf is limited. Fianna Hills and Riley Farms have some beautiful homes as does the "old money" in town namely the Free Ferry area. DO NOT GO THERE TO WORK as you will STARVE. COME TO DALLAS TEXAS INSTEAD! Tons of jobs here, more cosmopolitan, still family oriented, great weather, and tons of nice people too for locals and transplants alike.
Colonel Hogan | Allen, TX
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4 Replies


You left Fort Smith in 1988 but still think you know what it's like here? Well, you nailed it. It hasn't changed except that it's much worse now. Now we've lost Whirlpool and several businesses that supported them and all the money they infused into our local economy. Home prices have dropped through the floor. Unemployment is still lower than the national average, but people have to work for so little. Doctors do actually tend to bring in more than the national average in Fort Smith for some reason. We have a pretty strong medical community with a greater percentage of our population employed in the medical field than average. Doctors do make more on average according to the wage date out there but nurses and everyone else in the medical field bring in much less than the national average. Lawyers aren't making squat these days. There are way too many and hardly anyone can afford to hire them. Decades old law firms broke up and experienced attorneys went out to compete with new lawyers for entry level jobs. The median attorney in our metro area now makes $56,030, less than the median for attorneys in the Pine Bluff metro area, the lowest in the state and way lower than the national median income. It's a really bad time to be a lawyer in Fort Smith. For the fact is though that almost everyone makes a good bit less in this town than people doing the same work elsewhere. The economy is in bad shape and getting worse. We're losing all our planes at the Air Guard base. We've lost most of our TV stations (or all?) to Northwest Arkansas, where our mail is now sorted. If you send a letter across the street it goes to Fayetteville first. Our newspaper is going up there too. How many decades has the Southwest Times been here? Seems like nobody wants to do business here anymore. I want to leave desperately but can't yet. I have kids in school here and they live with me half the time and their mother the other half. My youngest will graduate in 2018 though. Then if things haven't improved dramatically in this town I'm leaving. I work in professional services and will have to start over again in my fifties, build up a new clientele, but that can't be harder than struggling for enough decent paying business to make it here.
Not | Fort Smith, AR | Report Abuse


I'm not from here, but I moved here and got married. As you mentioned, I have outside sources that have sustained me. However, I need a job. Before I met my SO, I dated a guy who broke up with me for being too sophisticated. I asked, "How?" He said it was the comment I'd made about cashmere sweaters and the Italian food. All I said was I love cashmere in winter, and I'm Sicilian, so I'm allowed to judge the Italian food - which by the way was literally watered down tomato paste. The noodles were overcooked and congealed together. Everyone thinks I must Mexican and asks my "nationality," to which I say: "North American." OMG. They usually don't know what nationality means. I even had some people ask if I'm "mixed." I didn't know what they meant. I guess everyone in the world is either Mexican or white. Every one in the world with dark hair and eyes and a softer nose is just Mexican or mixed. Anyway, my question is this: What should I say to impress these people? I've already sat down to a few interviews. In California, I always got a job in two days or less because I know how to impress, but here, there, clearly, is a difference between myself and them. Any tips on where to go or what to do? What to say? What not to say?
Jamie | Magazine, AR | Report Abuse

I have lived in Fort Smith my whole life and I love it here. I enjoy traveling so I have seen many small towns and big cities to compare it to. Being a part of "The Natural State", it is beautiful. Its parks a gorgeous and the people are great. Downtown Fort Smith is a site to see with its colorful murals painted on the side of buildings by the two high school art departments. It is great place to raise a family and I am proud to tell people that I am from Fort Smith, Arkansas, whenever I travel.
James | Fort Smith, AR | Report Abuse
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