Fast Facts
- Population
- 27,788 (2020 census)
- Elevation
- 2,559 ft
- Best Season
- May–June or September; the museum's season peaks in summer
- Nearest Interstate
- None close — US 50, US 56 and US 283 are the roads
What to Know Before You Arrive
Dodge City was founded in 1872 and incorporated in 1875, named after nearby Fort Dodge, which was itself named for Grenville Dodge. Before the cattle, the Santa Fe Trail came through: Fort Mann was built in the area “to provide protection for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail.” This was a road town before it was a cow town.
The cattle era arrived by regulation rather than destiny. In 1876 Kansas moved its quarantine line westward, and with the eastern railheads closed to Texas herds, “with no place else to go, Dodge City suddenly became the ‘queen of the cow towns.’” The peak years were 1883 and 1884. That is the whole golden age: a decade at most, and the town has been living on it ever since, under the nicknames Cowboy Capital of the World, King of Cowtowns and Wicked Little City.
The names attached to the place are real people who genuinely lived here — the lawmen Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, and Doc Holliday. What a visitor sees of their Dodge City is a reconstruction: the Boot Hill Museum's Front Street is “a partial reconstruction of downtown Dodge City as it existed in 1876.” Knowing that going in makes the stop better rather than worse; the town is honest about what it is showing you.
The Road Trip Stop
The Boot Hill Museum is the anchor, built around Front Street, a partial reconstruction of the 1876 downtown. Alongside it the museum runs a variety show, an Old West photo parlour, the Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Beatty and Kelley Restaurant on the same site.
Check the season and the showtimes
- We were unable to confirm the opening hours or admission prices for the current season. The museum keeps both behind its Plan Your Visit and ticketing pages, which we could not read on 2026-10-12. Check before building a day around it.
- The variety show is scheduled rather than continuous, and is a separate thing from walking Front Street. The museum's variety show page gives a summer schedule of dinner at 6:30pm and the show at 7pm, and lists 2026 dates from August 22 to September 26; it says the Marshal Pass, which includes the show, is not available in the off season, and that tickets for the show alone are sold at the gift shop. If the show is the reason you are stopping, confirm the performance calendar rather than just the opening hours.
- Front Street is a reconstruction and says so. The original Boot Hill is a different matter: the graves were moved out in 1878 and a schoolhouse put up on the site, so there is no nineteenth-century cemetery to visit.
- There is a restaurant on site. The Beatty and Kelley Restaurant is part of the museum complex, which makes this a park-once stop for most of a day. We were unable to confirm separate opening hours for the restaurant: its page on the museum's website lists lunch and dessert menus but no hours, so call the museum on 620-227-8188 or check the Plan Your Visit page.
From the Park Service
Fort Larned National Historic Site
- Entrance fee
- None — free to enter
- Park hours
- Every day 8:30AM - 4:30PM. Staff begin closing the grounds and visitor center at 4:30 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving Holiday Closure, Christmas Holiday Closure, New Year’s Day Holiday Closure.
- Reservations
- Large groups, such as tour groups or school groups, must reserve guided tours in advance. Call 620-285-6911 for reservations.
- Visitor centre
- Fort Larned Visitor Center. Open 8:30AM - 4:30PM daily.
- Passport stamp
- Fort Larned Visitor Center · Santa Fe Trail Center
National Park Service Data API, pulled 2026-10-12
Neighborhoods
Front Street and the museum block
The reconstructed 1876 street and the museum buildings around it, which is where almost all visitor time in Dodge City is spent.
Downtown Dodge City
The working town beside the museum: Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, with 27,788 residents at the 2020 census.
The feedlot country
The land around the town, where beef processing is among the major employers: the Kansas Department of Commerce lists Cargill Meat Solutions and National Beef Packing Co LLC among Ford County's major employers.
The trail corridor
West of town, where the National Park Service lists a Santa Fe Trail ruts site on the north side of US 50, 11 miles west of Dodge City, managed by Boot Hill Museum, with parking and a picnic shelter. We were unable to confirm opening hours or access conditions for the site; the museum's contact details are on its Plan Your Visit page.
The Food Stop
The Beatty and Kelley Restaurant is listed on the Boot Hill Museum's website as one of its attractions, and its page there describes a restaurant and ice cream parlor serving homestyle meals and hand-dipped ice cream. Having the eating on the same site as the attraction is the practical point in a town this size: a stop here does not need a second parking decision. We were unable to confirm separate opening hours for the restaurant or whether it operates outside museum opening times; the museum's phone number is 620-227-8188. We were unable to confirm other places to eat in town, and the city's own visitor information is the next step.
One brewpub within 10 miles of Dodge City. In a small town that is often the kitchen still serving when everywhere else has stopped.
See all 1
- Dodge City Brewing701 3rd Ave, Dodge City
*Check before you go. This list says what the source records as open and where it is — nothing more. Opening hours, whether a kitchen is serving, and whether anywhere suits your family are not in this data and change without notice. A production site may have no public room at all. Please confirm with the venue.
Brewpub locations from Open Brewery DB (MIT)
The Home Teams
No MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL or MLS team plays anywhere near Dodge City, and at under 28,000 people the town has no professional side. Wichita has a minor-league baseball club, the Wichita Wind Surge, which its own website says is rebranding as the Turbo Tubs. We were unable to confirm the driving distance from Dodge City.
Day Trips
| Destination | Time | Distance | How we got it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garden City | 1 hr 10 min | 53 mi | routed |
| Garden City sits at the intersection of US 50 and US 83 and has the Lee Richardson Zoo, owned and operated by the city: pedestrian entry is free, and day passes for entering by vehicle are $20* per vehicle. The Kansas Historical Society says the city's Big Pool has had a user fee since 2003. | |||
| Fort Larned National Historic Site | 1 hr 20 min | 63 mi | routed |
| A National Park Service site that the NPS describes as a complete and authentic army post from the 1860s and 1870s and a well-preserved fort on the Santa Fe Trail, with a history tied to the Indian Wars era. | |||
| Greensburg | 56 min | 45 mi | routed |
| A town that rebuilt after the 2007 tornado: the city passed an ordinance in December 2007 requiring city-owned buildings of more than 4,000 square feet to be designed to the LEED Platinum level, according to a U.S. Department of Energy-hosted report. It is also home to the Big Well, a hand-dug well that the city's history page lists at 109 feet deep and 32 feet in diameter when it was completed in 1888. | |||
| Cimarron National Grassland | 2 hr 30 min | 122 mi | routed |
| A 108,175-acre national grassland managed by the U.S. Forest Service in Morton and Stevens counties in southwestern Kansas. It contains 23 miles of the Santa Fe Trail, and a 19-mile interpretive trail parallels the historic route. | |||
| Wichitaguide | 3 hr 10 min | 155 mi | routed |
| A city of 397,532 residents at the 2020 census. | |||
1 of these is a place the Hub has its own guide to — marked guide and linked from the name.
Routed figures are computed over map data at free-flowing speeds, between map points rather than street addresses, so a real drive runs longer.
Distances routed by OSRM and places geocoded by Nominatim, over map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
*Fees subject to change, please check leerichardsonzoo.org for updated information.
Worth a Weekend
3 more Highway Heads places lie within about 180 miles of Dodge City in a straight line — far enough that most are a night away rather than an afternoon.
- Hutchinson (Cosmosphere)Kansasabout 120 mi
- AbileneKansasabout 170 mi
- Clinton (Route 66 Museum)Oklahomaabout 170 mi
Zoos Nearby
Within 60 miles of Dodge City, nearest first.
Lee Richardson Zoo — some details below are unconfirmedAZA-accreditedGarden City
* We could not confirm: hours/admission not shown on homepage. Check their site before you go.
This is a list of what is near you, not a recommendation of any of it. Each of these carries an accreditation we confirmed against the accrediting body’s own register. Where there is no badge we did not confirm one — that is not a judgement on the place, and a good many municipal, state and university sites belong to no register we check. One entry is marked with an asterisk: we could not confirm part of what is listed, and the note under it says which part. Opening times, prices and seasons change without notice, so check the operator’s own site — every name above links to it.
Practical Road Trip Info
Half a day covers it. The museum is the town's visitor offer, and it is concentrated on one site.
No interstate serves Dodge City. US 50 and US 56 are the roads, distances are long and services between towns are thin. Fuel before the empty stretches rather than during them.
The season matters more than the weather. From Memorial Day through Labor Day the museum lists longer daily hours than in the off season; its Marshal Pass (which includes the variety show) is listed for the summer season; and its FAQ says hours and activities vary seasonally. Confirm what is operating on your dates.
Beef processing is a major employer here. The Kansas Department of Commerce lists Cargill Meat Solutions and National Beef Packing Co LLC among the major employers in Ford County.
The Local Debate
Family-Friendly
Front Street
A walk-through street where children can go inside the buildings rather than read about them.
The variety show
A scheduled stage show at the museum, which is a sit-down break in the middle of a walking visit. The museum's variety show page lists a summer schedule of dinner at 6:30pm and the show at 7pm, with 2026 dates from August 22 to September 26. Check the performance calendar.
The Old West photo parlour
Period costume photographs at the museum, which is the kind of thing children remember longer than the exhibits.
The trail ruts
An outdoor site with Santa Fe Trail ruts, on the north side of US 50, 11 miles west of Dodge City, where the National Park Service lists parking and a picnic shelter.
Plan Your Visit
Boot Hill Museum
- What it is
- Front Street, a partial reconstruction of downtown Dodge City as it existed in 1876
- Also on site
- Variety show, Old West Photo Parlor, Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame, Beatty and Kelley Restaurant
- Hours and admission
- Summer (Memorial Day to Labor Day): daily 8am to 8pm. Off season: Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm, Sunday 1pm to 5pm. Closed New Year's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Deputy Pass: adults $20*, seniors (60+) $18*, ages 5 to 12 $14*, ages 4 and under free.
- Showtimes
- Summer schedule: dinner at 6:30pm, show at 7pm, with 2026 dates listed from August 22 to September 26. The Marshal Pass that includes the show is not available in the off season. Confirm before relying on it.
- Link
- boothill.org
*Fees subject to change, please check boothill.org for updated information.
We checked opening hours, operating status, fees, seasonal opening and reservations on 2026-10-12. These change without notice — confirm with boothill.org, nps.gov, milb.com and leerichardsonzoo.org the week you travel.
Sources — 27 claims, 26 checked against the source on 2026-10-12
| Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Boot Hill Museum's site lists Front Street, a Variety Show, the Old West Photo Parlor, the Beatty and Kelley Restaurant and the Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame; hours and Deputy Pass prices are listed on the Plan Your Visit page itself (checked 2026-10-14) | Visit — Boot Hill Museum | Checked |
| The Boot Hill Museum's Front Street is “a partial reconstruction of downtown Dodge City as it existed in 1876&rdquo | Dodge City, Kansas — Wikipedia | Checked |
| Population 27,788 at the 2020 census; elevation 2,559 feet | Dodge City, Kansas — Wikipedia | Checked |
| Founded 1872, incorporated 1875; “It was named after nearby Fort Dodge, which was named in honor of Grenville Dodge”; Fort Mann was built “to provide protection for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail&rdquo | Dodge City, Kansas — Wikipedia | Checked |
| After Kansas moved its quarantine line in 1876, “With no place else to go, Dodge City suddenly became the ‘queen of the cow towns’”; peak cattle years 1883 to 1884 | Dodge City, Kansas — Wikipedia | Checked |
| Nicknames “Cowboy Capital of The World”, “Wicked Little City” and “King of Cowtowns&rdquo | Dodge City, Kansas — Wikipedia | Checked |
| In 1878 the graves on Boot Hill were moved to Prairie Grove Cemetery and a schoolhouse was later built on the site | Dodge City, Kansas — Wikipedia | Checked |
| Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson and Doc Holliday lived in Dodge City; the phrase “get [the hell] out of Dodge” comes from the television series Gunsmoke and means to leave a dangerous area quickly | Dodge City, Kansas — Wikipedia | Checked |
| Summer (Memorial Day to Labor Day) hours are listed as daily 8am to 8pm; off-season hours are Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 1pm to 5pm; closed New Year's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas (checked 2026-10-14) | Plan Your Visit — Boot Hill Museum | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| The museum's restaurant page describes a restaurant and ice cream parlor with homestyle meals and hand-dipped ice cream and links lunch and dessert menus; no separate opening hours are listed (checked 2026-10-14) | Beatty and Kelley Restaurant — Boot Hill Museum | Checked |
| Listed on the north side of US Hwy 50, 11 miles west of Dodge City; managed by Boot Hill Museum; amenities listed as exhibits, auto parking and a picnic shelter (checked 2026-10-14) | Santa Fe Trail Rut Site — National Park Service | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| Garden City is in southwestern Kansas at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 and U.S. Route 83 | Garden City, Kansas — Wikipedia | Checked |
| Greensburg passed an ordinance in December 2007 that city-owned buildings of more than 4,000 square feet be designed to the LEED Platinum level with at least 42% energy cost savings | From Tragedy to Triumph: Rebuilding Greensburg, Kansas — NREL paper hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy | Checked |
| Deputy Pass is listed at $20 for adults, $18 for seniors (60+), $14 for ages 5 to 12 and free for ages 4 and under; Deputy Passes are sold at the museum itself (checked 2026-10-14) | Plan Your Visit — Boot Hill Museum | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| Summer schedule lists dinner at 6:30pm and the show at 7pm, with 2026 dates from August 22 to September 26; the Marshal Pass that includes the show is not available in the off season (checked 2026-10-14) | Variety Show — Boot Hill Museum | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| The museum is open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day, and hours and activities vary seasonally (checked 2026-10-14) | FAQs — Boot Hill Museum | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| Located approximately 5 miles east of Dodge City on Highway 400; built in 1865; now a retirement community and nursing facility for Kansas veterans with a historic library and self-guided walking tour for visitors (checked 2026-10-14) | Fort Dodge — National Park Service | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| Dodge City is a city in and the county seat of Ford County, Kansas | Dodge City, Kansas — Wikipedia | Checked |
| Major employers in Ford County include Cargill Meat Solutions and National Beef Packing Co LLC (checked 2026-10-14) | Ford County — Kansas Department of Commerce | Checked |
| The zoo is owned and operated by the City of Garden City; pedestrian entry is free and drive-thru day passes are $20 per vehicle (checked 2026-10-14) | Lee Richardson Zoo — admission | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| In 2003 management of the pool was taken over by the Garden City Recreation Commission and a user fee was instituted | Big Pool — Kansapedia, Kansas Historical Society | Checked |
| NPS describes the site as a complete and authentic army post from the 1860s and 1870s and a well-preserved fort on the Santa Fe Trail (checked 2026-10-14) | Fort Larned National Historic Site — National Park Service | Checked |
| The city's history page describes the Big Well as a hand-dug well, 109 feet deep and 32 feet in diameter when completed in 1888 | About Greensburg and History — City of Greensburg | Checked |
| A 108,175-acre grassland in Morton and Stevens counties managed by the U.S. Forest Service, with 23 miles of the Santa Fe Trail and a 19-mile interpretive trail (checked 2026-10-14) | Cimarron National Grassland — National Park Service | Checked |
| Population 397,532 at the 2020 census | Wichita, Kansas — Wikipedia | Checked |
| The team's official site announces that the Wind Surge will officially rebrand as the Turbo Tubs (checked 2026-10-14) | Wichita Wind Surge — official website on milb.com | Checked monitored · 2026-10-14 |
| Fort Dodge (Kansas Soldiers' Home) current visiting hours and public access; the agency site answered with a verification screen on 2026-10-14 | No source accepted yet | Not confirmed |
Road Trippin’ with the Harts
The Highway Heads books turn the miles between stops into a game the whole car can play.
See the booksLive Conditions
Wildlife Spotted Nearby
Nearest Airports
Straight-line distance from Dodge City, not drive time.
- Dodge City Regional (DDC) — 3 miles
- Garden City Regional (GCK) — 40 miles
- Liberal Mid-America Regional (LBL) — 71 miles
Explore the Full Road Trip
Return to the Highway Heads map and discover the next family-ready stop.
Explore the Map