Fort Dodge, Iowa: Home of the Fake Giant, Real Gypsum, and a Surprisingly Committed Garden Club

Welcome to Fort Dodge, Iowa, a town that sets expectations boldly and then makes you drive U.S. 20 to check on them.

RoastMyTown.com recently took a flamethrower to this place. We brought a lighter and a sense of fairness. Let's tour the "Little Chicago of North Central Iowa."

A Town Built Around a Fort (and a Very Large Fib)

The basics first. Fort Dodge is the county seat of Webster County, sitting along the Des Moines River. The population was 24,871 in the 2020 census, down from 25,136 in 2000. That's not exactly a mass exodus. It's more like a slow, polite Midwestern fade-out, the kind where nobody says goodbye.

The town began as a military post. Fort Dodge traces its beginnings to 1850, when Maj. Samuel Woods and E Company of the 6th Infantry were sent from Fort Snelling to build a fort at the junction of the Des Moines River and Lizard Creek. It was briefly called Fort Clarke before being renamed Fort Dodge in 1851. Even the name had a rough draft.

The fort didn't last long, but the town did. Today Fort Dodge is a major commercial center for North Central and Northwest Iowa, which is the polite way of saying "the place with the Target."

The Cardiff Giant: Fort Dodge's Greatest Hit Is a Prank

This is the part where the roast cards are right, so we'll give them the point. Fort Dodge's biggest claim to fame is a hoax.

The story goes like this. An atheist named George Hull got into an argument about Genesis 6:4 at a Methodist revival meeting and decided to create a giant, having a huge gypsum block shipped from Fort Dodge to Chicago, where a sculptor carved a giant man. The statue was doused in acid to look weathered, then shipped back to Hull, who buried it and arranged for well-diggers to "discover" it. That's a lot of effort for an argument at a church function, and it's the most Midwestern grudge in history.

It worked, too. Hull charged 25 cents a head at first, then raised it to 50 cents, and the giant got so popular that P.T. Barnum tried to buy it. When Hull refused, Barnum made his own giant and claimed it was the original. That's a fake of a fake, which makes it a very good hoax.

You can still see the local version. The Fort Museum & Frontier Village is a nonprofit with a full-scale replica of an original military post and a village of 19th- and early 20th-century buildings. Inside an octagonal building out back, a petrified giant over 10 feet tall lies in a pit. The replica was carved in 1972. If you've ever wondered what a 10-foot man made of drywall material looks like, here you go. Hours are limited, so call ahead before you go to see a fake giant.

Gypsum: The Rock That Built the Town (and Your Basement)

The roast cards joke that Fort Dodge is "hollow," and technically they're onto something. The town sits on a huge gypsum deposit, which is the rock's one moment of glamour.

Gypsum is the stuff of drywall, so every time you lean on a wall in a suburban rec room, you may be touching a piece of north-central Iowa. Fort Dodge has been mining and manufacturing with it for well over a century. It isn't flashy, but it is steady, and steady is the whole Iowa brand.

And what about the "Little Chicago" thing? We checked, and the Chicago comparison is generous. There's no Willis Tower, no deep dish, and no Cubs. It's Chicago in the way a community theater "Hamilton" is Broadway: same energy, smaller budget, and everyone still gives it a standing ovation.

What Fort Dodge Is Up To Now

Recent local news is blissfully small-town. The Fort Dodge Federated Garden Club made "Memories of Fort Dodge" the theme of a flower show, with arrangements inspired by notable local buildings, in honor of America's 250th anniversary. The Fort Dodge Public Library even hosted a "Practical Magic" movie night. There is something charming about a town where flower arrangements are architectural criticism.

We won't pretend the roast cards' crime commentary is a joke. Like any small city, Fort Dodge has had its share of serious incidents. It's worth keeping in perspective, and the town is hardly a cartoon of lawlessness. Mostly it's a place of road repaving, garden clubs, and Friday night volleyball.

The Verdict

Is Fort Dodge the "Walmart Greeters Capital of the Midwest"? Probably not, but it does have a fake giant, a real fort, a big gypsum deposit, and a flower show with a historic theme. That's a better résumé than plenty of towns twice its size.

Think we were too nice? See the full roast on RoastMyTown.com.