FORT SMITH — The U.S. Marshals Museum planned for Fort Smith is getting a $200,000 contribution.
The gift is from the Melanie Holt Speer Foundation, and Margaret Speer Carter says the donation is in honor of her parents.
Museum President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Dunn says the board has raised $10 million of the $50 million it is seeking. The Southwest Times Record reported that it will be located downtown on the Arkansas River and will overlook the Oklahoma border.
The museum is to honor the U.S. marshals who were based in Fort Smith and patrolled the Indian territory that is now Oklahoma.
Organizers hope to have a groundbreaking in 2014.
Carter says her father was once deputized during the World War II era.