News

New building could replace Trolley Center

The Trolley Center in downtown Fort Dodge may be replaced with a four-story building housing stores and apartments. H & F Development Partners, of Fort Dodge, has proposed that concept, and it will be considered by the City Council tonight. The council will meet at 6 p.m. in the Municipal Building, 819 First Ave. S. The Trolley Center is on the northeast side of the intersection of Central Avenue and Ninth Street. Over the last few years, it has been vacant and owned by a series of out-of-state firms. The city government recently went to court and used the state’s abandoned ...

From our files: June 2011

Death rides the rails in ‘Murder on the Orient Express’

The Hawkeye Community Theatre will be showcasing performances of “Murder on the Orient Express” Wednesday through Saturday. This is a stage adaptation, written by Ken Ludwig, of the classic Agatha Christie novel of the same name. The story details famous detective Hercule Poirot on a ...

Life on the frontier

Chris Swanson, of Duncombe, got to make a lot of noise Saturday afternoon at the 2026 Frontier Days celebration at the Fort Museum and Frontier Village. The members of the 3rd Iowa Cavalry Reenactors unit let him pull the lanyard on their replica Civil War era cannon. Pulling that ...

America at 250: First Transcontinental Railroad had immediate impact on nation that continues to be felt today

It’s very rare that we can say a nation was fundamentally different the day after a major construction project was completed from what it was the day before. But that’s exactly what happened to the United States of America on May 10, 1869, as the First Transcontinental Railroad was ...

Railroads were key to the growth of Fort Dodge

When the first locomotive rumbled into Fort Dodge spewing smoke and steam on a summer day in 1869, the community was finally connected to the rest of the country in a reliable way. The arrival of the railroads helped launch a long growth spurt in Fort Dodge. The city was served by four ...