FORT SMITH, Ark. — After about 16 years of planning, designing, and building, the U.S. Marshals Museum opened on July 1st, 2023.
One year later, President and CEO Benjamin Johnson said they’ve had just under 65,000 visitors from every state and American territory, plus almost every continent.
While the goal was to reach 100,000 visitors in the museum's first year, Johnson said that goal was set around six years ago in 2018, and a lot has changed since then.
"The only benchmark that we really had to guess on what our traffic would look like was a study that was commissioned back in 2018," Johnson said. "And a lot change changed over five or six years. The pandemic and a variety of other things, so we didn't really know what to expect."
Johnson said the museum has still made strides. "We have been immensely pleased with the way that those folks have supported us, and the feedback that we've gotten almost overwhelmingly positive."
He adds that the museum is looking to expand its educational programs in 2025.
One Fort Smith teacher visiting the museum said she couldn’t agree more. "I think it would be a great opportunity to learn more about the history and let the kids interact with it. I think it will help them memorize it and understand it better," said Tina King, a second-grade teacher at Howard Elementary.
With the help of Tyson Foods and the Arvest Foundation partnerships, the museum has been able to fund school field trips.
"We have a fund that will underwrite the costs of field trips for not just the ticket to get in the building, but will reimburse for the bus transportation, and for substitute teachers that are filling in," Johnson explained.
As a nonprofit, the museum's funding mainly comes from ticket sales, which is why partnerships are crucial to its success.
Through sales, sponsorships, partnerships, and events, the museum has raised just under $5 million dollars in the last year. Johnson said a big goal for 2025 will be to expand on large scale, regional, statewide and national partnerships, while keeping the museum affordable for visitors.
"We got to make as much money as we can to stay open and operate. But, there's a lot that we still plan to do to try to remove as many of those barriers as possible," Johnson concluded.
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