FORT SMITH — The building in which then-U.S. Army inductee Elvis Presley received his first military haircut soon could be on the National Register of Historic Places.
The structure known as Building 803 on the old Fort Chaffee grounds is among 12 being considered by the state review board for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, which will meet Dec. 1.
The building now houses the Chaffee Barbershop Museum, which commemorates Presley’s famed March 1958 haircut and other historical events that occurred at the Army facility.
Carolyn Joyce of the Fort Smith Convention and Visitors Bureau tells the Southwest Times Record that the Presley connection resonates with visitors to the museum. She says more than 23,000 people signed the register at the museum in 2009, even though it was open only three days a week.