Down Memory Lane

Garrison Avenue was ‘life blood’ of Fort Smith

When Chuck Girard drives down Garrison Avenue to his job at the First National Bank of Fort Smith, he sees more than his eyes might show him. He sees hopes and dreams, successes and failures, beginnings and endings.

Girard's relationship with "the avenue," as he calls it, runs deep. After all, he's worked at the bank for almost 40 years.

FAQ

‘Garrison Avenue: A Look Back’

WHEN — 10 a.m. Saturday

WHERE — Fort Smith Museum of History

COST — Free with museum admission: $5 adults, $2 children

INFO — 783-7841

But it's more than that -- and that's what he'll share in a program titled "Garrison Avenue: A Look Back," set for 10 a.m. Saturday at the Fort Smith Museum of History.

Girard's family has been in Fort Smith since about 1840 and a little bit later had a confectionery and bakery just off Garrison Avenue on Water or Front Street. It was the first ice cream offered commercially in town.

"Through the years just about everybody worked on or right around Garrison Avenue, all the way to myself," Girard says. "It was the life blood of the town until urban sprawl took over."

During its heyday, particularly around the time of World War II, "it was almost hard to get around on the avenue," he adds, with soldiers from Camp Chaffee filling the streets to visit theaters and department stores, catch a train or go to the bank: First National Bank of Fort Smith has been in its current location since 1909. Girard's mother worked in a "five and dime" on the avenue when she was a young woman and his dad in one of the theaters.

Of course, Girard is most familiar with -- and fond of -- the bank, "because I know this building inside and out." But his presentation includes both buildings that have changed and those that are gone.

"When you give these presentations, people come up and say, 'Let me tell you ...' and that always gets added in," he says. "This presentation has taken on a life of its own."

-- Becca Martin-Brown

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NAN What's Up on 05/15/2015

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