Fort Dodge, Iowa
Right now, I'm sitting in the the town I grew up in. I just wanted to lord it over the poor saps who grew up in cultural backwaters like New York or London.
As you undoubtedly already know, the most famous Fort Dodgian (Dodger?) was the great composer of marching band music, Karl King. Best known, for his extensive catalog of music written for the circus as this brief biography I found in the official journal of the Circus Historical Society (1959) made clear:
Please enjoy one of his more famous songs, Barnum and Bailey's Favorite March:
Fort Dodge isn't all circus music! Oh no! For example Fort Dodge is home to the Wahkonsa Hotel:
The Wahkonsa Hotel is on the National Registry of Historic Places and is, according to the Federal government at least "a five-story, plus basement steel and reinforced concrete building, featuring symmetrical brick facades with Italian Renaissance Revival-influenced brick detailing including quoining and relief brickwork." Yes, that's right in includes quoining! Just in case you were thinking, "Oh, I bet Fort Dodge doesn't have any buildings that include quoining," I'll have you know we have plenty of quoining, and I'll thank you not to forget it. See for yourself:
Fort Dodge is also home to a Carnegie library. One of a meager 1600 libraries funded by public/private agreements between Andrew Carnegie and municipalities across the United States, the Carnegie libraries were dedicated to Carnegie's idea that a library in a community would make it possible for those who wish to improve themselves to do so.
As a railroad hub, Fort Dodge once had a roundhouse for managing the train traffic. The roundhouse was built at the turn of the 20th century:
The roundhouse has since been demolished, as have most roundhouses around the country. I only mention it because there was a viaduct (I say, that's a viaduct!) that went over the train yard and I would beg my dear mother to tell the roundhouse joke and she'd yell, "Head for the roundhouse, Nellie! He can't corner you there!" and I'd laugh hysterically. This may have been the beginning of my belief that something that is funny once is funny every time.
I grew up in the Episcopal church and Saint Mark's church was the oldest church in the town, here's a drawing of it from 1896:
That view of the church is no longer possible owing to an addition built onto the church in the late 1960s. Some of my earliest memories of Fort Dodge are of all the construction at the church.
Clear Lake, Iowa gets all the press because it was the place that hosted the last concert of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens before their fatal airplane crash. My question is, why doesn't anyone make a fuss about the third to last concert they performed which was held in the Laramar Ballroom right here in Fort Dodge? The same place, will add that I went to my senior prom, some years later. I personally feel the third to last concert anyone performs is the important one.
I can sense your impatience, Dear Reader. I can hear you wondering, "When is he going to discuss the Cardiff Giant?
One of the most famous hoaxes of the 19th century, the Cardiff Giant was "discovered" in upstate New York and declared a genuine fossilized prehistoric giant. In actuality, it was a statue carved from gypsum from Fort Dodge, Iowa and planted in the field in order to stir up some excitement for folks. Which it did. While I was growing up, the Fort Dodge, Fort Museum hired a sculptor to carve a replica of the giant which you can visit if you ever find yourself in the the area.
The original Cardiff Giant ended up with P.T. Barnum. And so, with that we have come full circle (get it? get it? "circus" is from the Latin for circle!) from Karl King to P.T. Barnum. And it all happened here in the town of my youth.
jpj stories by John Jackson is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
