Most devoted Elvis Presley fans can tell you his birth date – Jan. 8, 1935.

And hordes of Elvis fans from all over the globe converge on Graceland in Memphis each year to commemorate the anniversary of his death – Aug. 16, 1977.

But there's another significant date Elvis fans may someday observe in Fort Smith – March 25, 1958.

That's the day the king of rock'n'roll got his first GI hair cut. The abandoned barbershop building at Fort Chaffee where the most publicized clip job in modern history took place is still standing. And if Fort Smith's city and tourism officials will fire up a six-year-old plan by Beard Elementary students, Elvis fans might start flocking here to visit that site.

"Hair today, gone tomorrow," the 23-year-old Elvis quipped, as his celebrated, long, dark locks fell to the floor of the floor of Building 803.

Flash bulbs popped, movie cameras whirred and writers scribbled down the singer/movie star's every word and action, as Muldrow barber James B. Peterson buzzed Elvis' signature pompadour and duck tail down to military standards. And Private Presley's first GI haircut – a full-fledged, international news event – became a unique footnote in local history.

Now, fast-forward to September, 1995, at Beard Elementary school, where special education teacher Jan Honeycutt was starting a new economics project for her 4th, 5th and 6th grade students.

It was an ambitious undertaking – a study of Fort Chaffee's economic impact on Fort Smith from the opening of the Army base in 1941 to its targeted closing in 1997. Hoping to use the ageless appeal of Elvis to keep her students interested, Honeycutt named it "The Blue Suede Cut of Economics."

During a field trip to Chaffee, the students were shown the "Elvis haircut building" – one of many surplus structures slated for demolition. They were also told how the Army's closing of the military base would impact Fort Smith jobs and revenue.

Then the children had a bright idea. They would raise money to buy the 25-by-116-foot barbershop building and donate it to the city to be used as a downtown tourism attraction. They even conducted an informal Internet poll of Elvis fans, who all expressed interest in visiting the barbershop. And they raised nearly $800 toward purchasing the building.

The city really didn't respond to letters and calls from Honeycutt about the students' offer until a column about it in the local newspaper spurred coverage by the Associated Press, national and international media. At a 1996 city directors meeting, the Chaffee base commander said that Beard Elementary could buy the surplus building "for about the price of a cup of coffee, and a handshake," and the directors voted to support the plan.

Since then, ownership of several thousand acres of the former Army base has been transferred to a public trust. Building 803 remains intact on the trust land, but no deed of sale for it has ever been issued to the Beard students.

But that could soon change.

The Chaffee Redevelopment Authority owns the building now, interim executive director, Sandy Sanders, noted, but it would probably be favorable to honoring the commitment of its former owner to the Beard Elementary students. He said he will bring up the subject at his board's December planning session.

Fort Smith's new tourism boss Claude Legris only recently learned the history of the barber shop project and is excited about it.

"I think this idea has got all the potential to become a national treasure, if you can match up the building with the right contents. A combination of actual items associated with the hair cut and an operating barbershop, where you could chose a hair cut from the '50s, '60's or '70s, would be ideal. I think this would bring people to Fort Smith from all over the world. There are a lot of Elvis fans out there longing for a new Elvis attraction who would love to visit the spot where Elvis got his hair cut, and maybe even get a hair cut there." Legris said.

The City of Fort Smith is still behind the project, too, Deputy City Administrator Dean Kruithof said.

"The city has a resolution on file supporting the Beard Elementary students' efforts to make (the barbershop) a Fort Smith tourist attraction and we intend to follow through on it," he explained. "The city is becoming an active participant in the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment and this project would be a wonderful thing for the community. There are a few decisions to be made yet, such as whether the building should be moved downtown and if so, where. But the main thing left to do is make it happen."

Jan Honeycutt couldn't agree more.

"I can see the entire Fort Smith community getting involved with this – everyone from the symphony and the schools to the civic groups and the city and the tourism bureau – I'm pretty sure Miss Laura would have liked Elvis," Honeycutt quipped. "This year on the 43rd anniversary of the hair cut, we had an Elvis Day program at Beard. The students dressed in '50s clothes and we had an Elvis trivia contest and an Elvis impersonator contest. The mayor (Ray Baker) attended and the event was so successful we hope to make it an annual historical, cultural and economic event."

Linda Seubold, editor of Entertainment Fort Smith Magazine, can be reached at lindaseubold@efortsmith.com. Read her archived columns and articles online.

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