Officials have delayed the opening of Fort Smith's $50 million U.S. Marshals Museum until 2017.
The U.S. Marshals Museum Board initially planned to open the museum in 2016, but museum president and CEO Jim Dunn says it will take longer to build the 50,000-square-foot building along the Arkansas River.
Groundbreaking for the facility is still set for Sept. 24.
Meanwhile, the museum says a gift from the widow of the late Lt. Gov. Winthrop Paul Rockefeller will fund a three-year lecture series at the museum .
The museum says the $100,000 donation from Lisenne Rockefeller will allow it to bring speakers from the executive, judiciary and legislative branches of the U.S. government to Fort Smith to speak about the marshal's history as it connects to each branch.
Each program is to be free and open to the public.