Rockefellers boost Marshals Museum

FORT SMITH — The U.S. Marshals Museum has announced that it has received a $350,000 gift from the family of the late Lt. Gov. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller as construction is poised to begin this summer.

A news release from the museum said the gift has reduced the amount still needed to build and operate the 53,000-square-foot national museum on the banks of the Arkansas River to $19.3 million. The $58.6 million museum is scheduled to open Sept. 24, 2019, the 230th anniversary of the U.S. Marshals Service.

“Through the Winthrop Paul Rockefeller Distinguished Lecture Series, [Rockefeller’s widow] Lisenne and her family have helped fuel national interest in the museum,” U.S. Marshals Museum Foundation Chairman Robert Young III said in a statement. “We are grateful for their continued partnership and support to honor the brave men and women of the U.S. Marshals Service.”

Lisenne Rockefeller made a $100,000 gift to the museum in 2014 to fund the three-part series that invites a member of the federal judicial, legislative and executive branches to speak on the importance of the Marshals Service.

The first speaker in 2015 was the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., was the legislative branch lecturer in 2016. Plans are underway to invite the third speaker in the series, this time from the executive branch, the news release said.

The museum and its collection of more than 700 items will be composed of three permanent exhibit galleries, a temporary exhibit gallery, the Samuel M. Sicard Hall of Honor to honor those killed in the line of duty, and a National Learning Center.