U.S. Marshals Museum Facts

• The U.S. Marshals Service was founded in 1789 as the first federal law enforcement agency in the country.

• The initial request for proposals for what became the U.S. Marshals Museum went out in 2004. A group of Fort Smith residents formed the Bring It Home campaign to have Fort Smith named the home of the museum.

• Fort Smith was named the future home of the U.S. Marshals Museum in January 2007.

• The Mary Carleton and Robert A. Young III Building (the official name of the structure that houses the U.S. Marshals Museum) and the Samuel M. Sicard Hall of Honor were dedicated Sept. 24, 2019.

• The museum opened to the public July 1, 2023.

• The museum is 53,000 square feet and cost more than $50 million to build. The permanent gallery takes up 18,000 square feet of that space, and another 4,000 square feet are devoted to rotating exhibit space. The museum also includes an atrium, the Hall of Honor, The Outpost gift shop, and education and event spaces.

• One-third of the museum’s collection is on permanent loan from the U.S. Marshals Service. Those items were collected in 1989 by the Smithsonian as a traveling exhibit marking the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Marshals Service. The rest of the items on display in the U.S. Marshals Museum were collected from various sources and include photos, letters and other artifacts. The museum currently has more than 1,000 artifacts in its collection.

• Since its opening, the U.S. Marshals Museum has had more than 30,000 visitors. Those visitors have come from all 50 states and several foreign countries.