Military forces on the Santa Fe Trail were re-established farther north and east at Fort Larned in 1859, but the area remained vacant around what would become Dodge City until the end of the Civil War.

[citation needed] The town of Dodge City can trace its origins to 1871, when rancher Henry L. Sitler built a sod house west of Fort Dodge to oversee his cattle operations in the region, conveniently located near the Santa Fe Trail and Arkansas River, and Sitler's house quickly became a stopping point for travelers.

The town site was platted and George M. Hoover established the first bar in a tent to serve thirsty soldiers from Fort Dodge.

By the mid-1880s, Dodge City began working to change its image away from that of a violent western town and towards that of a more peaceful and civilized location.

[16] Notable attendees included William Harley and Walter Davidson, who adopted the "hog" as a mascot after one of their riders, Ray Weishaar, brought a piglet from his farm with him to the race.

[19] The city sits above one of the world's largest underground water systems, the Ogallala Aquifer,[20] and is 25 miles (40 km) from the eastern edge of the Hugoton Natural Gas Area.

[22] Dodge City lies at the intersection of North America's semi-arid (Köppen BSk) and humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) zones,[23] with hot summers, highly variable winters, both warm and very cold periods, and low to moderate humidity and precipitation throughout the year; it is part of USDA Hardiness zone 6b.

[10] In addition, a local tourism industry, including a casino resort, has developed to capitalize on Dodge City's history as an Old West cowtown.

The three industries employing the largest percentages of the working civilian labor force were: manufacturing (33.0%); educational services, health care, and social assistance (18.1%); and retail trade (9.4%).

Other major employers include local government, schools, retail stores, and health care providers.

[47] The city commission consists of five members who serve either two-year or four-year terms, depending on the number of votes they receive.

[47] Dodge City was criticized by Johnny Dunlap, Ford County Democratic Party's chairman, for only having one polling place for 13,000 voters.

[52] A lawsuit over the issue was dismissed after Debbie Cox, the county clerk, agreed to open two polling places in the next election.

[66][71] Using the BNSF trackage, Amtrak provides passenger rail service on its Southwest Chief line between Chicago and Los Angeles.

[93] The largest is Wright Park, located immediately south of downtown and home to the Dodge City Zoo.

[93][94] Legends Park, in the northern part of the city, is a four-diamond, tournament-level baseball and softball complex that hosts both youth and adult league games.

[95] The city also maintains the St. Mary Soccer Complex, which includes six full-size game pads and three junior-sized fields, and the municipal pool.

[103] Lasting ten days, it includes the Dodge City Roundup Rodeo, a parade, a beauty pageant, music concerts, a golf tournament, arts and craft shows, and other activities.

[106] To celebrate Independence Day, the city holds its Old-Fashioned Fourth of July, which includes a fireworks display and children's activities at Boot Hill.

[109] Also in July, the Western Kansas Manufacturers Association (WKMA) holds the 3i Show, an agri-business expo of agricultural products, technology, and services.

The Boot Hill Museum, located downtown, contains thousands of artifacts and a variety of exhibits portraying the culture of the city's early years.

The museum's larger exhibits include: Front Street, a partial reconstruction of downtown Dodge City as it existed in 1876; the Long Branch Saloon and the Long Branch Variety Show; the Saratoga Saloon; the Hardesty House, a period-typical home built in 1879; the city's original Boot Hill Cemetery; and the Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame.

[113] Other historical landmarks include: El Capitan, a life-sized bronze sculpture of a Texas Longhorn steer built to commemorate the cattle drives that once ended in the city; a bronze statue of famous Dodge City lawman Wyatt Earp; and the Santa Fe Depot, the largest extant train depot in Kansas.

From 1970 to 1980, the annual Boot Hill Bowl post-season college football game was played in Dodge City.

[136] Starting in the 1870s, the violent episodes of early Dodge City history, particularly the exploits of Wyatt Earp, attracted national media attention.

Gunfighters and lawmen such as Earp and his brothers and partners became celebrities, and sensationalized versions of their activities entered period popular culture as the subject of dime novels.

Regarded in American folklore as the quintessential rough and rowdy Old West frontier town, Dodge City served as the setting for numerous works of Western-themed media, including later popular films and television series.

Marshal Matt Dillon portrayed on radio by William Conrad and then on television by James Arness, as he dealt with gunfighters, cattle rustlers, gamblers and other criminals while enforcing the law in the frontier town.

These include several seasons of the series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp starring Hugh O'Brian on the ABC television network from 1955 to 1961, and the films Winchester '73 (1950), with James Stewart Masterson of Kansas (1954), with George Montgomery, Cheyenne Autumn (1964), featuring Richard Widmark, James Stewart and Edward G. Robinson and directed by John Ford and Wyatt Earp (1994) with Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman.

In the 1939 film Dodge City the fictional lawman Wade Hatton, played by Errol Flynn, was modeled on Earp.