Butterfield Stagecoach monument could be installed by late summer

Phil White said Thursday (May 21) during a Central Business Improvement District (CBID) meeting that what was just an idea a few months ago for a new historic monument in downtown Fort Smith is on track to become a reality as early as this summer.

White, a member of the CBID, a semiautonomous governing body involved in efforts to enhance downtown Fort Smith, began in February to pursue a challenge from former Judge Jim Spears to create a Butterfield Stagecoach monument along Garrison Avenue in the downtown.

Spears, the retired Fort Smith municipal judge who helped lead the effort to place the large Bass Reeves statue in downtown Fort Smith, shared during a Feb. 19 CBID meeting his vision of a Butterfield Stagecoach statue. Spears’ vision was for a silhouette of a stagecoach with a horse and rider to be etched out of a large steel plate and placed on a base.

The Butterfield line was approximately 3,553 miles of trails in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. Fort Smith was the connection point for the Butterfield routes leading to Memphis and St. Louis.

Spears, who was also a key part of recruiting the U.S. Marshals Museum to Fort Smith and promoted or led other community beautification and historic marker efforts, recently passed away. He was 80.

“Tomorrow (May 22) is the memorial service for Jim,” White said during Thursday’s CBID meeting. “So today, let’s think about him and his sculpture that is going to happen. … His wish, from two months ago, is now put together.”

The “wish” will be a life-size, 36-foot-long image of a stagecoach with horses and a driver. The monument will be located on the north side of the 200 block of Garrison Avenue, which is near where the stagecoach stopped on its route through Fort Smith. White said obstacles may emerge, but he is confident the monument could be completed by late summer.

White said many people and companies in the city have donated time, materials and labor to make the project happen. For example, Forsgren is building the monument base, the city of Fort Smith is providing the space and clearing a 20-foot by 60-foot hole for base construction, Jason Myers and Josh Mickle are providing design and engineering services for free, and Midwest Automation & Custom Fabrication is donating the work to create the monument from steel.

“They (Midwest) are making a big donation,” White said. “That work, with their machines, and their design people, I mean, that would have been a huge cost for this.”

He estimated the donations to be between $130,000 and $180,000. The project needs about $20,000 to pay for the steel. Sam Sicard, president and CEO of First National Bank of Fort Smith and a CBID member, has said the bank would pay for a portion of the work. The CBID on Thursday approved up to $10,000 to match the bank’s donation.

However, White said his goal is to not need the bank or CBID money.

“I really want that to come from the community, you know, to get the rest of that ($20,000 estimated cost of steel) from the people in this town who really have a heart for this,” White said. “And I don’t think that will be a problem just based on every time I talk about this, I get folks wanting to help with it.”

The only unknown part of the project is lighting. White said he is working through code enforcement details with the city of Fort Smith about light placement.

The Butterfield project will add to the list of monuments in the area. Downtown Fort Smith also has a Gen. William O. Darby statue on the east end of Garrison Avenue, statues in Gateway Park at Garrison and Rogers Avenues, and the statue of a Native American lawman at the U.S. Marshals Museum.