Editor’s Note: Dodge City, Kansas, is 1,100 miles northwest of Clarkesville, Georgia, and a good 18-hour long drive. It’s more than a day trip, but still, a place you may want to consider for a summer getaway. Now Habersham’s Margie Williamson recently visited there. Here, she takes you on a virtual tour that may inspire you to ‘get the heck out of Dodge’ and head west.
If you’ve grown up watching TV westerns, or if you still spend Saturday mornings watching old TV westerns (like we do), you know about Dodge City, Kansas. The town served as the location of “Gunsmoke,” a story about Matt Dillon, the upright sheriff who kept order in the town, Miss Kitty, the owner of the Long Branch Saloon, and a host of local characters and villains. The history of the town is even more interesting than the series portrayed.
Dodge City’s illustrious and infamous history
The town’s history reflects its position on the Santa Fe Trail, an east-west supply route and cattle trail that ran from Franklin, Missouri, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Fort Dodge was an army fort built in 1865 and was given the assignment of keeping the peace along the Santa Fe Trail between it and Fort Lyon, Colorado, and keeping the Indians in check.
Early settler Henry L. Sitler built a three-room home five miles west of Fort Dodge and just off the trail. His sod home became a stopping place for travelers on the trail, and eventually became the first building of Dodge City. Sitler described his view along the trail: “If you stood on the hill above Dodge City, there was traffic as far as you could see, 24-hours a day, seven days a week on the Santa Fe Trail.”
The wickedest town in the west
The town’s history is also told through the stories of lawmen Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, of Masterson’s brothers Ed and and Jim. In its early days, Dodge City had no law enforcement. The town became infamous for its lawlessness as men and gunslingers traveled through the town, driving cattle, moving goods, or just drifting along.
Fist fights and gunfights became common in the town. So many men died in the fights that a cemetery had to be started just outside the town. That legendary cemetery, Boot Hill, was known for burials of men who died in the streets with their boots on. Dodge quickly became known as The Wickedest Little Town in the West.
Two front streets
in 1876, just one year after the first town marshal was hired, the town’s mayor brought Wyatt Earp to Dodge with a salary about ten times greater than the average pay provided lawmen. The mayor’s offer was out of desperation. The previous marshals had been either run out of town or shot in the back. Along with Earp, other lawmen were also brought into the office, including Charlie Bassett and Bat Masterson.
The lawmen had their hands full. As one Kansas newspaper described the town in the 1870s: “Kansas has but one Dodge City, with a broad expanse of territory sufficiently vast for an empire; we have only room for one Dodge City; Dodge, a synonym for all that is wild, reckless, and violent; Hell on the Plains.” After visiting Dodge, a Hays City Sentinel‘s editor wrote: “Dodge is the Deadwood of Kansas. Her incorporate limits are the rendezvous of all the unemployed scallawagism in seven states. Her principal business is polygamy without the sanction of religion, her code of morals is the honor of thieves, and decency she knows not.”
To deal with the issues of crime and lawlessness, the new team of sheriffs set up a “Deadline” dividing the north and south sides of town, using the railroad tracks as a boundary.
On the south side, anything was allowed, including gunfights and brothels. In fact, the term “Red Light District” was begun in Dodge City as train employees used their red train lights to see their way to the brothels when they came into town.
On the north side, guns could not be worn or carried at any time. Anyone wearing or carrying a gun was immediately arrested and put in jail. The jail was quickly filled up with those who refused to leave their guns at the town’s edge.
Bassett, Earp, and the Mastersons served off and on in law enforcement in Dodge City in through much of the 1880s. While Ed Masterson was killed in a gunfight while on duty, the other men left Dodge City for greener pastures, returning from time to time for short periods only.
A booming town
Once Dodge City was established, it became known for the buffalo hunters who passed through town and the buffalo hides and bones they brought in to sell. In fact, the town was first called the Buffalo Capital of the World. It wasn’t long before the town became a cattle town. The town continued to grow through new businesses came in and the building of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad.
Cattle drives moved up the Chisholm Trail from Texas bringing their cattle to the railroad to be transported east. It’s estimated that half a million cows moved through Dodge between 1874 and 1886. Cowboys who drove the cows arrived in town with as much as $90 cash in their pockets. The money had been paid them over three months or so on the trail, and they were ready to spend it, mostly on the south side of town.
However, in 1880, the Santa Fe Railroad line was completed to Santa Fe, drastically reducing the use of the Santa Fe Trail. The military presence in nearby Fort Dodge was no longer needed in 1882 when the Indians were put on reservations. And the cattle drives stopped in 1886. Dodge City had seen its heyday, and would not see such growth again until modern times. But historians record a series of titles given to the town that shows the notoriety it held: the Cowboy Capital of the World, the Queen of the Cowtowns, and the Bibulous Babylon of the Frontier.
Dodge City’s present allure
In 2021, Dodge City was again chosen as one of the top 10 best western towns. It actually it was ranked 5th by True West Magazine. Executive Editor Bob Boze Bell, explains Dodge City’s draw: “Dodge City has such a colorful past. Buffalo hunters, cattle drives, cowboys, gunslingers. It’s a bit more tame than in its heyday, but visitors can still get a taste of what life was like back then. There’s no question: Dodge City is a Top True Western Town.”
The city celebrates its past through multiple ways. Sculptures memorializing Dodge City’s greatest celebrities are found along the streets. Multiple museums are available. Authentic-styled saloons are available.
Dodge City also throws a major celebration each year during the ten-day Dodge City Days. During the event, visitors and locals enjoy a parade, a rodeo, a cattle drive, chuck-wagon breakfasts, and barbeques. For 2021, Dodge City Days will be held July 30-August 8.
Dodge City is an amazing place to explore the history of the Old West first hand.
Boot Hill Museum
Boot Hill Museum is located at the original Boot Hill Cemetery. Begun by the Jaycees in 1947, the museum has continued to grow with exhibits and buildings. Within the museum is thousands of artifacts from the days of Dodge City’s infamous wild days. Displays include an original covered wagon, a buffalo display that puts visitors up close and personal with a buffalo, exhibits about how the residents in the town lived, and displays of western guns. Also include are displays about Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson and their time in Dodge.
Leaving the museum exhibits, visitors can visit the remains of Boot Hill Cemetery, and stroll the wooden sidewalk of the rebuilt stores along Front Street. Several of the shops include re-enactors, such as the ladies in the dry goods store and the bartender at the Long Branch Saloon. The ladies did a wonderful job showing the children how to use old-styled games and how candy was sold in the 1880s. And the bartender was entertaining and informative as we sipped our sarsaparillas.
Next to the saloon is a series of exhibits that show how businesses would have looked in the 1880s, such as the jail, the newspaper office, the undertaker’s, the bank, and the photography studio.
At the far end of the town area are two original outbuildings. One was the blacksmith’s shop and the other a church. Both have been moved from other locations.
The final exhibit is a living one – a gunfight taking place in the middle of town. Many of the guests watching the gunfight were there with a ticket for the country style dinner and the Long Branch Saloon Variety Show that took place afterwards.
The World Famous Boot Hill Gunfighters, as they are known, train for their gunfight productions. Each gunfight is a well-planned scenario of something that might have happened when the cowboys came into town after a cattle drive. Most of the gunfighters are given a specific role to play and know what to do during the re-enactment. The marshal, however, is not only more experienced than others, but has to have the ability to lead the scene, tell the story, and ad lib responses to the other gunfighters. For our performance, the marshal was portrayed by Garrit Flax, the young bartender who served our sarsaparillas.
Other Dodge City attractions
There’s plenty more to do in Dodge City. The Dodge City Trail of Fame is a walking tour around the downtown area. Along the way are medials and statutes of many the famous and infamous people who passed through, and possibly died, in Dodge City.
Fort Dodge, the army fort that preceded the town of Dodge City, is located five miles east of Dodge City. A museum and walking tour is available. While many of the original buildings still stand, most are being used as a retirement center and nursing facility for retired Kansas veterans.
The Santa Fe Trail Rut Site is located nine miles west of Dodge City. There, you can clearly see rut trails from covered wagons that are still visible after more than 150 years.
The Boot Hill Distrillery in town dates its operation back to 1872 when George Hoover took five barrels of whiskey five miles outside of Fort Dodge and set up a tent and bar created by a piece of lumber. The distillery began out of Hoover’s actions. Tours and tastings are available. There’s also a new brewery in town, Dodge City Brewing, that serves craft beens and pizza from its own brick oven.
The unexpected surprise of Dodge City
We were driving through Kansas returning from Colorado and stopped in Dodge City for the night. We had done a little bit of research about what was there, but not much. In fact, we didn’t get into Dodge until late afternoon so there wasn’t much time to sightsee. We grabbed the family, loaded back up in a vehicle, and took off for the Boot Hill Museum. I was half expecting a tourist trap. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Visiting Dodge City and exploring the Boot Hill Museum was a wonderful experience for all of us. Some of us grew up with Gunsmoke and cowboy movies. Some of us had never seen those shows and was uninterested in the Old West. Two were children who don’t really get excited about anything that’s not animated.
Surprisingly, all seven of us got involved at Boot Hill. The museum was fascinating and included interactive things for the children to do. The outdoors setting was so visually exceptional that I wanted to look around for Miss Kitty. It was education and entertaining.
You may not be able to make it to Dodge City this year but definitely think about adding it to your wish list. It’s worth the time.
