In 1803, the United States negotiated one of the largest real estate deals in history. For $15 million, France deeded 828,000 square miles to the fledgling republic, doubling its size. This new territory included what would become the state of Arkansas.

In celebration of the bicentennial anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase, the Old State House Museum honored the event that made Arkansas American with not one, but two exhibits. The first featured the actual Louisiana Purchase Treaty, on loan from the National Archives.

The museum also overhauled its popular Wilderness Gallerywith new interpretive panels, a new video program, and an interactive computer kiosk. Its setting depicted an Arkansas swamp as it might have appeared early in the 19th century at the dawn of the American era. The Louisiana Purchase Treaty may have come and gone, but its lasting significance to Arkansas and America continues to be celebrated in this online exhibit