Dodd had a newspaper office in Henderson, Kentucky but was destroyed by Federal forces in the American Civil War and was subsequently imprisoned on Johnson's Island in Lake Erie.

In 1889 Dodd decided to sell all of his property in Kentucky and moved to Lake City where he purchased the Lake City Reporter.

Dodd managed to increase the circulation of the Lake City Reporter up to his death in 1890.

His son Herbert Dodd had learned about the newspaper industry from his father and continued to operate the Lake City Reporter making it a popular publication in Columbia County.

In 1972 The New York Times Company bought the Lake City Reporter.