Geography of Dodge City
Dodge City, Kansas, the seat of Ford County. It is on the Arkansas River, about 150 miles (240 km) west of Wichita. Dodge City was laid out in 1872 near Fort Dodge and became a terminus for the Santa Fe Railway. It was first a center for buffalo hunters, but soon became the “Queen of the Cow Towns”—a major shipping point and market for cattle driven in from Texas. Legendary figures such as Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp struggled to bring law and order to the city. Dodge City's importance declined with the end of the cattle era. A reconstruction of Front Street—“the wildest street in the West”—is a tourist attraction.
Population: 25,176.