by Michael Tilley (mtilley@talkbusiness.net)
The relief was palpable among many of the 350 who gathered Thursday (June 29) to open the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith. It was a project 16 years in the making. Doug Babb said what is now a “glorious opening” was a “difficult task” and sometimes felt like an “impossible dream.”
Babb, chair of the U.S. Marshals Museum Board of Directors, said a year after it was announced Fort Smith was selected as the museum site, the Great Recession hit. That would be among several “extremely harsh setbacks” during the process to fund and build the national museum, Babb told the crowd.
“We had a difficult task. We had to raise $50 million,” Babb said, adding that “Today, our dream is a reality, and I thank you all for that.”
The Fort Smith Police Department Color Guard stand near the Samuel M. Sicard Hall of Honor prior to the beginning of Thursday’s (June 29) ceremonial opening of the U.S. Marshals Museum.