Zacahry Taylor, The Sisters of Mercy & The Archeology of 19th Century Fort Smith, Arkansas.......

The Sisters of Mercy on the Arkansas Frontier

The State of Arkansas and the Indian Territory were formed in 1843 into the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock--while Zachary Taylor was still in command in Fort Smith (Church of the Immaculate Conception 1999:2; Sisters of Mercy 1989:7).

Andrew Byrne, born in Ireland, was chosen the first Bishop of this diocese--"a vast wilderness with no real city, only a few emerging towns, no reliable means of transportation over the long distances that separated towns and a very small Catholic population" (Sisters of Mercy 1989:8). The Catholic population of the diocese was not more than 1000, and perhaps as few as 400, when Byrne was appointed (Sisters of Mercy 1989:13).

At some point during his first years of service in the Little Rock Diocese, Byrne decided to develop a colony of Irish Catholics in Fort Smith. He acquired the land and buildings to start this colony when he bought 640 acres (at a price of $5,250) from the Fort Smith School Commissioners--this was the land and buildings that had comprised Camp Belknap (Sisters of Mercy 1989:14).

Bishop Byrne traveled back to Ireland with the intent of bringing back Irish immigrants and clergy in order to establish an Irish colony in his new diocese (Church of the Immaculate Conception 1999:6-7; Sisters of Mercy 1989:47-57). The few historians who have tackled the specifics of this endeavor are not sure as to how many Irish souls Father Byrne actually managed to recruit, but it seems that between 1200 and 300 would-be colonists left Naas, Ireland with between 8 and 5 Sisters of Mercy (Church of the Immaculate Conception 1999:3; Sisters of Mercy 1989: 55, 59) to start a new life on the what was then the western edge of the Western world in the wilds of Arkansas.

On January 19, 1853, the Sisters and Bishop Byrne boarded a steamboat in Little Rock and traveled up the Arkansas River to Fort Smith. The party arrived on

"...the first night in their new home the Sisters slept in one of the small two room buildings on the Camp Belknap property. The next morning they toured the Camp Belknap buildings and began to move into General Taylor's old residence, which was large enough to serve as their first convent, which they named St. Anne's." (Church of the Immaculate Conception 1999:18-19)

It was only a short time before the Sisters had organized two schools (one for girls and one for young boys), as well as catechism classes and instruction for adults. They, as their order demanded, committed their lives and resources to act in solidarity with persons who were sick and/or economically poor especially women and children.

"The faith of all the Sisters at St. Anne's was sorely tried on December 8, 1875. The Sisters had gone to the Parish church near the convent and were waiting for 10 a.m. Mass to begin when a cry went up that the convent was on fire! By the time the Sisters and congregation reached the scene, the main building of Gen. Zachary Taylor's residence, which was used by the Sisters as their convent, had been completely destroyed. A defective flue was blamed for the fire" (Sisters of Mercy 1989:129).

Early in 1876 a new two story frame building was built on the site of the Taylor residence and the Sisters lived in this structure until the completion of he third, brick convent in 1905 (Church of the Immaculate Conception 1999:26-27; Sisters of Mercy 1989:129). The Sisters eventually grew their compound to include not only St. Anne's Academy and their convent, but also (in the early twentieth century) St. Edward's Infirmary and the Church of the Immaculate Conception.


Images of the grotto on the grounds of St. Anne's Academy; (left) a turn-of-the century photograph of three Sisters of Mercy at the Grotto, and (right) a 1930s colorized postcard of the grotto. Click on the images for a larger view.

Following the construction of the new convent, the Sisters tore down the 1875 structure, but left the solitary chimney-transforming it into a three-sided native stone grotto which held statues of the Blessed Virgin and other saints. This grotto became a landmark itself to the Fort Smith community. The grotto appears in many local photographs--not only appearing in pictures of the Sisters, but also of photographs of school classes, weddings, and other events.

The grotto is mentioned in every Fort Smith history. It is even strangely present in some works when St. Anne's Academy and the Sisters of Mercy are ONLY mentioned in connection with the grotto (e.g., Mapes 1965:15).

The Sisters operations in Fort Smith struggled through the 1960s and 1970s due to lack of teachers and funds. Eventually (in 1972) the Sisters were forced to leave the 1905 convent as the structure was in bad need of repair and no funds were available for that purpose (Sisters of Mercy 1989:191). The Sisters were eventually abandoned their Fort Smith presence and the Church of the Immaculate Conception purchased the grounds and buildings and renovated them to their current state (Sisters of Mercy 1989:192).

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