FORT DODGE

city, seat (1851) of Webster county, north-central Iowa, U.S., at the juncture of the Des Moines River and Lizard Creek, 90 miles (145 km) northwest of Des Moines. It originated around Fort Clarke, which was established in 1850 and was renamed the following year for Henry Dodge, U.S. senator from Wisconsin who had fought in the Black Hawk and other Indian wars. When the fort closed in 1853, Major William Williams bought the land and buildings; he laid out the town in 1854 and became its first mayor and postmaster. The community developed as a market-processing centre for the surrounding farmlands and gypsum deposits; gypsum quarried near Fort Dodge was used in the celebrated Cardiff Giant (q.v.) hoax. The city's economy now centres on the gypsum, farm machinery, and chemical fertilizer industries. Fort Dodge Historical Museum, Fort Museum, and Frontier Village have pioneer exhibits. The main campus of Iowa Central Community College (1966) is in the city. Inc. city, 1869. Pop. (1990) 25,894.