Visit Fort Dodge uses “Dodge the Ordinary” to promote Fort Dodge, Iowa. The tagline accurately describes the perfect day trip or weekend getaway an hour and a half northwest of Des Moines. The Fort Dodge area’s attraction options should be on every traveler’s checklist, whether you enjoy art, architecture, history, shopping, or dining.
The hospitable folks at Visit Fort Dodge sponsored my exploration, but all opinions are mine. The affiliate links in this post earn commissions for Roxie on the Road at no cost to you.
Discover Fort Dodge, Iowa
Let’s explore enticing Fort Dodge, Iowa, population 25,000, on Historic Route 20. The county seat of Webster County and home of Iowa Central Community College sits at the confluence of the Des Moines River and Lizard Creek. I wanted to visit Fort Dodge because of their marvelous Fort Dodge Grain Silo Mural. I loved the huge artwork, but Fort Dodge is much more than a mural.
Fort Dodge Regional Airport (FOD) offers direct flights to Chicago O’Hare (ORD).
Book your flights above.
Related: Highway 20, the longest highway in America, passes through Valentine, Nebraska.
You’re about to discover the numerous fun things to do in the Fort Dodge area. To understand a place, you must start with how it came to be. Therefore, we’ll start with the Fort Museum and Frontier Village and expand our journey.
Here are the best places to enjoy in Fort Dodge, Iowa.
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Table of contents
Painted Piano Project | Fort Museum | Cardiff Giant | Beginnings | Lewis Armistead | Karl King | Blanden Art Museum | Grain Silo Mural | Floyd of Rosedale | Freedom Rock | Veterans Memorial Park | Children’s Forest | Downtown Fort Dodge | Fort Frenzy | Outdoor recreation | Farmers Market | Community Orchard | Soldier Creek Winery | Breweries | Dining | Holiday Inn Express
The Painted Piano Project
Look for repurposed pianos from the Fort Dodge Fine Arts Association’s Painted Piano Project in many places we’ll visit.
1. The Fort Museum and Frontier Village in Fort Dodge
The Fort Museum’s preserved original buildings include a cabin, a church, a one-room schoolhouse, a land office, a general store, a drug store, a livery stable, and several artisans’ shops. Museum collections include artifacts from prehistory, Native American, Civil War, a fantastic stoneware collection, and items from Fort Dodge’s founding years.
All those exhibits tell interesting stories about the history of Fort Dodge, but three of them stood out.
There were giants on the earth in those days .…
Genesis 6:4
Fort Dodge’s Cardiff Giant
Step right up, folks, to see the wonderful Cardiff Giant! The 10-foot-tall Giant came from a well in Cardiff, New York, and he’s guaranteed to strike awe and fear into all who see him! Is he a hoax, or is he genuine? You be the judge!
How does a giant unearthed in New York connect with Fort Dodge, Iowa? George Hull was an atheist, and he argued about Genesis 6:4 at a Methodist revival meeting. And then he decided to create a giant. He shipped a Fort Dodge gypsum block to Chicago, where a sculptor carved the giant man and doused it with acid to age it. Then Hull buried it and arranged for well-diggers to find it.
The Giant’s “discovery” was sensational, and Hull charged people 50 cents apiece ($11.32 in 2023 dollars) to see it. Showman P.T. Barnum tried to buy it from Hull because the giant attracted so many visitors.
When Hull refused to sell, Barnum created another one and said his giant was the original. Eventually, Hull and Barnum exhibited their giants in the same town, and the hoax was exposed. Hull’s Giant is now in Cooperstown, New York, while Barnum’s is in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Cliff Carlson sculpted the Fort Museum’s Giant in 1980. However, a storm collapsed his tent and damaged the sculpture. Look for the resulting crack in the Giant’s left thigh.
Fort Dodge’s beginnings
Stephen Watts Kearny and his First US Dragoons explored the Fort Dodge area while looking for potential fort sites in 1835. An exhibit explains the Dragoon Trail, which later became a stagecoach route.
Roxie’s reliable report: The Dragoon Trail connects Fort Dodge with Des Moines.
Kearny’s recommendation came to fruition 15 years later when E Company of the Sixth Infantry were the first Euro-Americans to inhabit future Fort Dodge. They came from Fort Snelling, Minnesota, to establish Fort Clarke at the Des Moines River and Lizard Creek confluence. The army soon changed Fort Clarke to Fort Dodge after Wisconsin Territorial Governor Henry Dodge.
Related: Fort Dodge, Kansas, also may bear Henry Dodge’s name — or maybe it’s named for Grenville Dodge.
The museum includes a replica of the fort, although the original fort lacked a stockade. The fort lasted only three years. When the army abandoned it, the post’s sutler William Williams (PDF) bought the fort and platted the future City of Fort Dodge. However, the city would not incorporate until 1869.
Lewis Armistead: From Fort Dodge to Gettysburg
Guests may visit Brevet Major Lewis Armistead, the fort’s second-in-command, in his office. Ten years later, Brigadier General Armistead put his hat on the tip of his upraised sword and led his men at the Battle of Gettysburg’s Pickett’s Charge. He fell with his hand on a Union cannon at the charge’s final extent. Sadly, his friend William Scott Hancock was commanding the troops who shot him.
Related: Armistead also served at Fort Riley, adjacent to Junction City, Kansas.
Karl King, Iowa’s March King
The museum features another interesting Fort Dodge resident, Karl King. King had only four piano lessons and a single harmony lesson. Other musicians helped him, but he mostly learned composing by studying scores. Despite his limited education, King rose to conductor of the Barnum & Bailey Circus Band before World War I. After the war, he formed a music publishing company, the K.L. King Music House. King moved to Fort Dodge in 1920, remaining until his death in 1971. He composed about 300 pieces of music.
Roxie’s reliable report: King conducted his final concert in Oleson Park’s Karl King Bandshell, built by the Works Progress Administration
King was to circus marches what John Philip Sousa was to patriotic marches. and “Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite” is his most famous composition. However, he also wrote fight songs for Big 10 universities, “Pride of the Illini” (University of Illinois) and “The Viking March,” which became “Indiana, Our Indiana.”
He also devised the Iowa Band Law. In the 1921 legislation, a city could levy a tax to support its municipal band. Many Iowa municipalities supported their bands, spreading the idea to 33 states and some foreign countries. Of course, King wrote the march “Iowa Band Law” in celebration.
Related: Meredith Willson of Mason City wrote the “Iowa Fight Song.”
2. Blanden Memorial Art Museum
The poet Charles Granger Blanden was Fort Dodge’s youngest mayor. Years later, he donated $40,000 in 1930 (nearly $730,000 in 2023) to construct a neo-classical-style building on private land in his wife’s honor. It became Iowa’s first municipal art museum. Blanden endowed the museum with his art collection at his death in 1933.
The museum’s permanent collection rotates every few months for public viewing. It includes the Ann R. Smeltzer Modernist collection of European and American painting and sculpture, the Harold D. Peterson collection of European and American prints, American photography, contemporary American art, Iowa artists, and Japanese screens and prints.
The entrance includes the museum’s gift shop, and the next room holds an arresting Steven Maeck sculpture on a Persian rug. Maeck turns salvaged industrial refuse into art, and Circus Trick, a ladder standing on a ball, is a prime example. Another Maeck work, La Reine Des Abiilles (The Queen Bee), repurposed a wooden corn sorter and filled it with carefully placed doorknobs.
Sir Henry Moore‘s Three Standing Figures also caught my eye. The sculpture’s interpretive panel says that Moore gained inspiration from African, modern, and Mayan artists, but I think the 24-inch figures originated on another planet. Plan 9 from Outer Space, anyone? Moore lived through the London Blitz, and the group interactions in bomb shelters interested him.
Learn more with classes and a child-friendly etching kit
The museum holds art classes at the Blanden Art Education Center, a block and a half from the main building. If you’re traveling with children, book them into one of the classes or ask for a Dragoon Etching Trail Kit at the art museum, Visit Fort Dodge, The Blanden Art Museum, Jeff Haupt State Farm Insurance, AmericInn by Wyndham, or Country Inn by Radisson.
The Ringland-Smelzer House
Smeltzer’s grandmother donated the land for the museum. The Historic Oak Hill District’s beautiful homes surround the Blanden Art Museum, including Smeltzer’s house. Her historic home is now a house museum.
3. Fort Dodge Grain Silo Mural
The 360-degree Fort Dodge Grain Silo Mural turned the former Fort Dodge Grain Terminal into Iowa’s largest mural. Clay deposits around Fort Dodge sparked a thriving pottery industry in the 1800s. Van Helten painted seven archetypes of Fort Dodge residents with Iowa pottery. Two of the models stood out, Charlene Washington and Dick Whitcomb.
Washington accepted free transportation from the South to Iowa in 1964, the height of the Civil Rights Movement. She became a leader in the Black community.
Whitcomb lived in Fort Dodge his entire life except for his fighter pilot service during World War II. After the war, Whitcomb became a manager at a gypsum plant.
Roxie’s reliable report: The mural overlooks the Des Moines River, and the grounds around it are always open.
Related: Australian artist Guido van Helten painted another grain silo mural in Salina, Kansas.
4. Floyd of Rosedale, the Diplomatic Pig from Fort Dodge
A giant stylized pig statue named Floyd of Rosedale stands before the Rosedale Rapids Aquatic Center. The annual winner of the Iowa-Minnesota football game receives a bronze pig, one of the most famous sports trophies. The statute honors its progenitor, who came from Fort Dodge.
In 1934, Iowa’s Ozzie Simmons was a star running back and returner. The Northwestern fans applauded his skills, but the Minnesota team had a different approach to the Black player. They knocked him into unconsciousness three times in the first half, and he was knocked out of the game by halftime. None of the hits drew penalties.
Iowans resented Simmons’ treatment. The governor, Clyde Herring, decried Minnesota’s violence and appeared to threaten vigilante action from the fans. To spread calm, Governor Floyd Olson bet a prize Minnesota hog that the Golden Gophers would win a clean but hard-fought game. Rosedale Farms offered a 220-pound boar in response. The Gophers won 13-6, and Iowa had to pay.
Four days later, the Iowa governor escorted Floyd into the St. Paul, Minnesota, governor’s office. The pig lived in the University of Minnesota hog pens for a while, then moved to a southeastern Minnesota farm, where he died of cholera. Simmons played for another season. Allegations said that his teammates refused to block for him, but he never talked about the experience.
Floyd becomes a pair of sculptures
Olson commissioned a 98-pound bronze Floyd of Rosedale to perpetuate the custom, but Iowa had to wait until 1939 to bring Floyd home. Fort Dodge dedicated its 14-foot-tall Cor-Ten steel version in 2021, 82 years after the Iowa victory.
Related: Read Floyd’s intriguing story.
5. Webster County Freedom Rock
Freedom Rocks are one of my favorite things about Iowa because each of the 99 Freedom Rocks is unique. The Webster County Freedom Rock supports veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Sometimes, war’s price is invisible, and this 25,000-pound Freedom Rock acknowledges it on the rock’s front side.
On the rock’s backside, painter Ray “Bubba” Sorensen II honors two Fort Dodge military pilots, Medal of Honor recipient Captain Darrell R. Lindsay and Distinguished Flying Cross recipient Ensign Willis Moeller. Dragoon reenactor and community leader Dr. Bill Ryan is also on the rock.
6. Terry Moehnke Veterans Memorial Park
A Georgia army base’s veterans’ forest inspired Dr. Terry Moehnke to create a similar project in Fort Dodge with the help of the Fort Dodge Noon Sertoma Club. The Terry Moenhke Veterans Memorial Park includes over 350 flowering trees and numerous granite markers that line the path leading to the lake.
More monuments are scattered throughout the area, including Iowa’s first Gold Star Families Memorial. Servicemembers’ families receive blue-starred flags denoting those serving their country. Those who die for their country earn gold stars.
An amphitheater, where Fort Dodge holds its Memorial Day commemoration, provides seating for various events.
The Children’s Forest
The park adjoins the beautiful Children’s Forest with hundreds of memorial trees in Kennedy Park. Instead of removing dead ash trees, Webster County hired Des Moines tree sculptor Gary Keenan to carve the stumps into Lorax characters. The carvings are part of the forest’s storywalk, where a nature-themed book’s pages are posted along a .3-mile trail.
My friend Follow the Piper says the forest is one of the best things to do in Fort Dodge with your grandkids.
7. Downtown Fort Dodge, Iowa
Downtown Fort Dodge gained the nickname “Little Chicago” because its builders wanted it to look like that city. Many of those original buildings remain. Explore its history and beautiful architecture on the walking tour (PDF) centered on Central Avenue. The Webster County Courthouse and several public artworks are downtown.
Studio Fusion provided one of my favorite experiences this year. The do-it-yourself studio lets people create fused glass, pottery, and canvas paintings. I used leftover glass to recreate my wreathed red front door as a Christmas ornament. I disappeared into my project, the perfect escape from stress.
After you create at Studio Fusion, continue your retail therapy appointments at Homespun Collection, Rush Hour Clothing Co., and Tillie’s Quilts, all only a few steps away. You’ll feel so much better afterward.
Expand your walk a bit further to Walker’s Bike Shop because you’ll need bike supplies on all those trails. Navigate the world of comics and gaming at Dungeons and Dodgers.
8. Fort Frenzy
Go to Fort Frenzy to entertain your entire family. Fort Dodge’s largest family entertainment center will occupy them for hours. Drive a go-kart or a bumper car, play laser tag, air hockey, and miniature golf, or jump into the game in the sweeper or the ValoJump. Test your pinball wizard skills at Fort Frenzy’s full range of arcade games. Satisfy your hunger at the Godfather’s Pizza.
Roxie’s reliable recommendation: Save with one of Fort Frenzy’s passes.
9. Outdoor recreation
If you prefer outdoor recreation, Fort Dodge, Iowa, has many offerings. Go off-roading at Gypsum City OHV Park, hike or bike on the Lizard Creek Mountain Bike Trails, golf at Fort Dodge Country Club, and explore Dolliver Memorial State Park.
Buy an autographed copy of the book Midwest State Park Adventures, where Dolliver State Park is featured.
10. Fort Dodge Farmers Market
Fort Dodge Farmers Market‘s tagline is “More Than Produce.” Yes, customers will find plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits, but makers also bring jewelry, woodcrafts, apparel, artworks, and more. The creamed honey from Stripling Apiaries is delicious. When you taste Sugar Krash Co.’s homemade cotton candy, no other will suffice.
11. Community Orchard
“There’s something for everyone” is a tired cliché in the travel industry, and it’s usually an exaggeration. However, the cliché fits the Community Orchard outside Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Start in the Orchard Café, which serves soups, sandwiches, and salads. The Scarecrow Soup, a cheesy vegetable soup sprinkled with “straw,” a/k/a chow mein noodles, is a regional icon and a must-eat. The BBQ smoked pork sandwich is top-notch, too. Eat the grilled peach salad when peaches are in season, and finish your meal with the apple dumplings ala mode.
Shop The Apple Attic for women’s and children’s clothing, gifts, décor, and more. You must buy the Maple Apple Dip.
Play in the Back 40
The fun doesn’t stop with shopping and dining. Go outside to the Back 40. Dig for corn, play in the sand pile, race inside a conduit, climb the tire mountain, pet farm animals, and more. Explore the sunflower field and pick apples and pumpkins in season. Adventurous folks should solve the corn maze. The Community Orchard is an opportunity to let down your hair and have a great time.
12. Soldier Creek Winery, Fort Dodge, Iowa
Wine production isn’t reserved for warmer climates. At Soldier Creek Winery, the Secor Family planted a 6.5-acre vineyard featuring cold-climate grape varieties that thrive in harsh Iowa winters. Tucked between endless traditional cropland, Soldier Creek uses mainly their grapes northeast of Fort Dodge.
The winery produces six red and six white wines, four rosés, two hard ciders, and two dessert wines. The Ghost Pig hard cider was my favorite because it tasted like a cold, crisp Gala apple at peak ripeness. I also enjoyed the semi-sweet red, which tasted like a strawberry-cherry jelly. Buy them at the winery or have them shipped. Out-of-staters are in luck because they ship to 35 states. Before you leave the tasting room, drink the wine slushie du jour.
Roxie’s reliable report: Join the fun at the winery’s annual Good “Vine”Brations Harvest Festival. Can you win the Grape Relays?
13. River Hops Brewing
Whether you need Training Wheels Lager or you’re a hard-core Day Drinker Mango Wheat, River Hops craft brewery has a brew for you. Many of the hops are grown nearby. I enjoyed the Oxbow Orange, a pilsner with blood-orange purée, and the Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Stout, like drinking a peanut butter cup.
14. Shiny Top Brewing
Shiny Top Brewing is a classic combination of beer, pizza, art, and live music. The menu includes a variety of sandwiches and creative macaroni shell dishes, but the pizza is the star. Try the Crab Rangoon pizza for a one-of-a-kind taste. Enjoy a peach of a taste with the Hop Peach of Ash IPA. If beer isn’t your favorite — and why not? — drink wine or a signature cocktail.
15. Gaga and Hoo Korean Restaurant
Imagine this: Your bibimbap at Gaga and Hoo Korean Restaurant arrives in a sizzling stone bowl. Warm white rice is on the bottom with seasoned vegetables, bulgogi (marinated beef slices), and an egg. The colors are beautiful, and the sweet and spicy aroma tickles your nose. Dig in because bibimbap means “mixed rice.” Therefore, don’t be finicky and eat one dish segment at a time. Stir it and eat everything together instead.
Finish your meal with a croffle, a cross between a French croissant and a waffle, topped with whipped cream and a fruit sauce. Chase the croffle with Dalgona iced coffee, complete with a Korean sugar cookie. It’s OK because you can burn off the sugar at the Fort Dodge Country Club outside.
Roxie’s reliable recommendation: Gaga and Hoo is featured in the book 100 Things to Do in Iowa Before You Die. Buy a copy before you start any Iowa travel.
16. Tea Thyme/Thyme to Shop
The food at Tea Thyme looks as delicious as it tastes. The ham and vegetable pasta included smoked ham tossed with zucchini, asparagus, carrots, onions, and mushrooms with Italian seasonings and Parmesan cheese. Baby Swiss cheese sauce topped the delectable dish. It came with a crisp side salad. The restaurant’s lemon chiffon pie fits in the Goldilocks zone because it’s not too sweet, and it’s not too sour. It’s just right. Remember to browse the charming merchandise.
17. Olde Boston’s Restaurant and Pub
Olde Boston’s feels like a comfortable neighborhood pub with cozy brick walls, wood furnishings, and ceiling fans spinning below the pressed-tin ceiling. The food has a cozy feel, too. I ate the Boston Bake, which is somewhere between a hot roast beef sandwich and a shepherd’s pie. Delicious. Start your meal with the divine Santa Fe rolls with homemade Cajun sauce. Yes, the New Mexican and New Orleans fusion works. Finish with a Dog Bowl, two hot chocolate chip cookies, and two scoops of ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate syrup.
18. Mineral City Mill & Grill
Experience Fort Dodge’s history with good food at Mineral City. Artifacts from the city’s mining history adorn the walls to entertain you between ordering and eating. Start with the Sicilian rolls, followed by a Panino Italiano (ham, turkey, pepperoni, provolone cheese on rosemary focaccia bread, lettuce, tomato, and Caesar dressing. Finish with one of their incredible cheesecakes.
19. Stella’s Coffee Bar
Stella’s is a combination coffee bar, tea house, and market. I didn’t know what matcha tea was before I entered Stella’s. (It’s a Japanese green tea powder made from shaded tea leaves with a slightly bitter, vegetal taste.) I left a convert. The drink had an earthy taste, which usually isn’t my favorite. However, the earthiness only accentuated the tea flavor. It may have health benefits, too. Before I left Fort Dodge, I returned for a blueberry vanilla latte. Yum!
20. Ja-Mar Drive-In
Ja-Mar is a classic diner, the perfect destination for comfortable American cuisine. Eating there was a nostalgic experience, like eating with my grandmother in grade school. I half expected to order via a phone connected to the central waiter station instead of having the wait staff take my order. Eat the biscuits and gravy with some raisined oatmeal. Don’t miss their pressure-fried chicken.
21. Zakeer’s Family Restaurants
For delicious baked goods, breakfasts, and lunches, head to Zakeer’s, where everything is made from scratch. I loved the big, thick cinnamon rolls and the perfect omelet.
Where to stay in Fort Dodge
I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express (ad) just down the street from Ja-Mar and Mineral City. The hotel was spotless, and the staff was friendly and helpful. I recommend it.
So, now it’s time for you to dodge the ordinary in Fort Dodge!
Book your trip
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