August 30, 2009

In 1899, St. John’s Hospital and a second hospital, City Charity, consolidated to create Belle Point Hospital in Fort Smith (Sebastian County), shown here. In 1908, community leader George Sparks donated $25,000 in memory of his wife, and the name was changed to Sparks Memorial Hospital, now Sparks Regional Medical Center. Today, the Sparks Ambulatory Surgery Center, established in 1979, occupies the site where the Belle Point facility was located.