FORT SMITH, Ark. — Since 1984, the City of Fort Smith has celebrated its historical connection with its twin city Cisterna, Italy.
There's a proclamation that declares that relationship and Executive Director of the Fort Smith Museum of History Caroline Speir said it has ties with General Darby, who was born and raised in Fort Smith.
"Darby's rangers and General Darby attempted to liberate Cisterna during World War II, and in January 1944, there was a massive battle," Speir said. "Germany had occupied Cisterna and Rome, and in order to get to Rome, Cisterna needed to be liberated, and so they attempted to do that."
Speir said the liberation of Cisterna took four months with a large loss of life and many prisoners of war taken, so they now honor that relationship.
"They honor the sacrifices of the rangers, and they honor that relationship with General Darby and his rangers," Speir said.
Speir describes the two cities' relationship as a sort of cultural exchange.
"We will host them, and we will show them around the city, and we will help them experience things that are very local, whether that's history or cuisine or people," Speir said. "We have several events that the public is welcome to, and we hope that they come and meet them and get to visit with them."
Once the current touring is over, then it will be Fort Smith's turn to visit Cisterna.
"So when the Fort Smith delegation goes over, it will be the same type of thing where the city will host us, and we will see their historical attractions and experience their culture and their cuisine and things like that. So again, it's from that sister city, that exchange of history and culture and economic impact," Speir said.
The celebration started on Tuesday and the Italian delegates toured the Marshal's Museum, Clayton House, and received a big welcome from the city at the board of director's meeting.
"The Clayton home is a very historic home in town. clayton was the prosecuting attorney. So if you come to Fort Smith and you're doing a historical tour of. wanting to learn about the history of the town. this is one of the places that you would stop. and they have a lovely room in here where we have tea and we've tried to show them, you know, some of our local fairs, there's a local caterer who catered the event, and it's just a nice setting. At the board of directors meeting they'll see kind of how a little bit of how our government works,"
Here's the full schedule of events for delegates:
- Sept. 25
- 9:15 a.m. — Tour — Fort Chaffee
- 10:45 a.m. — Tour — Barbershop Museum & Chaffee Museum, 7313 Terry St.
- 12:00 p.m. — Lunch and tour — Arkansas Colleges of Health Education, 7000 Chad Colley Blvd.
- 5:50 p.m. — Sister City Exhibit Opening — Fort Smith Museum of History, 320 Rogers Ave.
- Sept. 26
- 9:00 a.m. — Tour — National Historic Site, 301 Parker Ave.
- 10:30 a.m. — Tour — Miss Laura's, 2 North B St.
- 11:15 a.m. — Tour — Fort Smith Regional Art Museum, 1601 Rogers Ave.
- 12:30 p.m. — Lunch — Rolando's, 917 North A St.
- 5:00 p.m. — Dinner and entertainment — Packard Point Ranch, 107234 S. 4806 Rd Muldrow, OK
- Sept. 27
- 9:45 a.m. — Groundbreaking ceremony — Cisterna Park, 1001 Garrison Ave.
- 10:45 a.m. — Wreath laying ceremony and tour — National Cemetery, 522 Garland Ave.
- 12:00 p.m. — Tour — Darby House, 311 North 8th St.
- 6:30 p.m. — Levitt concert — Fort Smith Riverfront Park, 121 Riverfront Dr.
Speir said if you see people in Fort Smith with Italian sashes on, introduce yourself and offer them a warm welcome.
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