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Photo: Theodore Russel Davis, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Fort Dodge served as a supply depot and a base of operation while fighting the Indians from 1865-1882.
The site of Fort Dodge in the U.S. state of Kansas was originally an old campground for wagons traveling along the Santa Fe Trail, just west of the western junction of the Wet and Dry Routes and near the middle or Cimarron Cutoff. On March 23, 1865, Major General Grenville M. Dodge, who commanded the 11th and 16th Kansas Cavalry Regiments, wrote to Colonel James Hobart Ford to propose establishing a new military post west of Fort Larned. On orders of Col. Ford, Captain Henry Pearce, with Company C, Eleventh Cavalry Regiment, and Company F, Second U.S. Volunteer Infantry, from Fort Larned, occupied and established Fort Dodge on April 10, 1865.
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38-ft-tall cross marking the spot where Spanish explorer Francisco Vasques de Coronado crossed the Arkansas River in search of the fabled "Seven Cities of Gold" in 1541.
Home of Stone
The 1881 house of a bootmaker with original furnishings and a gallery dedicated to local pioneer women.
A historic Santa Fe Depot theater with dinner theater productions. Typically five shows a year, each running for three weekends. Dinner tickets must be bought at least 24 hours in advance, but show-only tickets are sometimes available at the last minute.
Art gallery in the historic Carnegie Library building. Listed on the National Register of Historic Sites.
Fun water park with slides, lazy river, and shaded areas. Hours vary, but generally open in the afternoons and early evenings during the summer. Open daily when school isn't in session (June to mid-August), and then weekends only until early September.
The Boot Hill Museum contains a reconstruction of 1876 Dodge City and Boot Hill Cemetery, so named because most of the deceased were buried with their boots on. Between Memorial Day and the end of August, visitors can see gunfight re-enactments, a variety show, and have a chuckwagon dinner.