Fort Dodge’s post office opened in 1854, and 32% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns · #48 of 140 in Iowa. What drives it
13 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 118 buildings between them. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1860.
Founding year: the first Fort Dodge post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1869.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Fort Dodge’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fort Dodge is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #48 of 140 in Iowa. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fort Dodge’s overall grade.
Iowa towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Iowa town has 9.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Fort Dodge’s 50.8 sits above most of its state (75% of Iowa towns have fewer) while its 126 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.0 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1869 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Fort Dodge’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Fort Dodge, building by building, 1885–1916
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Fort Dodge traces its beginnings to 1850 when Capt. Samuel Woods, with his E Company of the 6th Infantry were sent from Fort Snelling to erect and garrison a fort at the junction of the Des Moines River and Lizard Creek, they arrived August 2, 1850. It was originally named Fort Clarke, in honor of Brev. Brig. Gen. Newman S. Clarke, colonel of the Sixth 151, but was renamed Fort Dodge because there was another fort with the same name in Texas. It was named after Henry Dodge, a governor of Wisconsin Territory (which had included Iowa until Iowa became a state in 1846). The fort was abandoned by the Army in 1853.
returned to West Liberty, but remained there but a short time prior to his departure for Fort Dodge, where he resided and managed the ex¬ press line between Iowa Falls and Fort Dodge till a very short time prior to the time the railroad came to Fort Dodge. He resided in Fort Dodge till 1876, when he again went West and located at Deadwood, S. D. While in Deadwood, S. D.,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
they moved with their family of three children to Rock Island, Ill., where they resided till the spring of 1856. In March, 1856, he came to Fort Dodge with a steam engine and saw-mill machinery (the first engine in Northwest Iowa, except the small one used by the United States troops at this point), and located a saw-mill at the south side of the town, which he operated
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Fort Dodge, 1854 to 1974
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Fort Dodge’s post office has been open since 1854.
Gone or out of use
Fort Dodgemilitary
7cemeteries and burying grounds inside Fort Dodge
CarpenterCorpus ChristiFort Dodge Memorial ParkNorth LawnOaklandSaint OlafsSaint Paul
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Fort Dodge’s history
What year was Fort Dodge founded?
The Fort Dodge post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1869.
How does Fort Dodge rank for history?
Fort Dodge is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #48 of 140 in Iowa. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Fort Dodge?
13 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Vincent House (listed 1973, the first), 3 historic districts, the Oak Hill Historic District, the Oakland Cemetery and the Fort Dodge Downtown Historic District, with 118 contributing buildings, 1 site, and 1 structure. 126 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Fort Dodge?
32% of Fort Dodge’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.0 points), against a typical 22% for an Iowa town; the median home was built in 1957.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (13), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1918
