This Friday Night in Dodge City

[M. R. Byrd]

Once in a while this old farmer hits the town. Shower, shave and some clean clothes. Well tonight was Final Friday in Dodge and we decided to take in the town. This event happens on the last Friday of the month and is an art/cultural/social event, something that I sure don't make many, but anyway here's what we did.

First stop the Carnegie Art Center to see photographs of Kansas photographer Rodney Hoover of St. George, Kansas. Hors d'oeuvres and open bar here.

The Carnegie Library was built in 1905 with funds from Andrew Carnegie

The next stop was the Second Avenue Art Guild. Complete with musicians on the street entertaining us. Wine and cheese here.

Next stop was the Santa Fe Depot, now home to the Depot Theater. Jazz musicians and open bar here. The depot was built in 1898. Originally 33,000 square feet, now somewhat larger with the addition of the stage works. Housed the Fred Harvey hotel and his dining room, The El Vaquero.

Evening photo with the sundials.

Dodge City is located on the 100 Meridian and was once the time change from Central to Mountain time. The east sundial is set for Central and the west for Mountain.

Also located at the sundials is the analemma.

Next and final stop for the evening was the Boot Hill Distillery. It is just opening in the 1929 City Hall on top of Boot Hill. Band playing here and open tasting room.

Buffalo head came from the 1885 City Hall.

Inside the tasting room.

 

[M. R. Byrd]

Outside on the patio. You will notice the grain bins. The owners are farmers in the area and are raising the corn and wheat that goes into the product. Currently they are making white whiskey, gin and vodka and barreling bourbon(minimum of two years in the oak barrels). They will make a special run for a person, either with your grain or theirs and put your label on it.

Beautiful evening to be out on the town in Dodge.

 

[KSBrittman]

Good stuff !!! Look like a lot of history to !!!

 

[KSBrittman]

Good stuff !!! Looks like a lot of history to !!!

 

[hettmoe]

Looks like it was a great time. Thanks for taking us on the trip!:10sign:

 

[M. R. Byrd]

The 1929 City Hall also housed the Marshal's office, the police station, the jail and the court. Later it housed the fire department. Later on the Chamber of Commerce. Then it sat empty for years and was close to be razed when the Boot Hill Distillery project happened. Soon there will be a micro brewery a block away where an old lumber yard once stood in downtown Dodge.

Here are a few more pictures I took on July 30, 2016 at the grand opening of Boot Hill Distillery.

Etchings in the ceiling of what was the city jail.

 

[HollowWatcher]

Awesome! :coolpics:

 

[carptom1]

That's really cool. Sad to say I have not been to Dodge City since the 70's when I was a kid. Neat to see all those old buildings re purposed for other uses.

 

[M. R. Byrd]

When I was there Friday evening they were making Shady Lady Vodka, using I believe 51% corn and 49% wheat(or maybe the other way around)

Their product line-
Shady Lady Vodka
Red Eye Whiskey
Doc Holliday Gin
G.M. Hoover's White Whiskey

From the book, "Dodge City, Up Through A Century In Story and Pictures" by Fredric R. Young

"In the spring of 1872, as the steel rails of the new railroad came closer each day, more and more hunters, traders, merchants, and adventurers entered the area west of the military reservation and set up camp in dugouts, tents, and wagons. Whiskey and women, guns and groceries, were needs that Fort Dodge could not supply for these new arrivals and for the hundreds of railroad workers expected soon. Colonel Richard I. Dodge, commanding officer at Fort Dodge in 1872, did not favor the sale of whiskey on the military reservation, but he realized the difficulty of trying to enforce prohibition within the military reservation boundary. When the civilians at Fort Dodge began talking of starting a settlement west of the reservation boundary, Colonel Dodge approved and helped with the planning.

The solution to Colonel Dodge's problem was anticipated by twenty-four-year-old Canadian, George M. Hoover, who came to western Kansas in 1871 with his possessions in a sack on his back. Hearing the plans for a new town, he backtracked to eastern Kansas and brought back a wagon loaded with whiskey, the merchandise in greatest demand on the frontier. The military reservation boundary extended to the 100th meridian, five miles west of Fort Dodge. Hoover tied a rag to the wheel of his wagon, measured off the five miles, and dropped the tail gate of his wagon. He set up shop on June 17, 1872, at eight o'clock in the morning, about half way between Dodge City's present First and Second Avenues, just south of the railroad grading stakes. In their hastily erected tent, Hoover and his partner, John G. McDonald, piled the sod high enough at each end of a foot-wide board to support a bar and opened for business."

 

[BritChaser]

Looks like life is good in Dodge.

 

[M. R. Byrd]

As I mentioned before on Friday night the Distillery was making Shady Lady Vodka.

Speaking of ladies in Dodge City, here is one from the past.

She was born Mary Katharine Haroney is Pest, Hungary on November 7, 1850. She came to the United States with her father, a doctor and family in 1860. Her father was appointed personal physician to Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. At age 16 Mary Katharine ran away from home. In 1869 she was working as a prostitute for madam Blanch Tribole in St. Louis. Then in 1874 "Kate" was fined for working as a "sporting woman" in a sporting house in Dodge City run by Nellie "Bessie" (Ketchum) Earp, James Earp's wife.

In 1876 Kate was in Fort Griffin, Texas, where she met Doc Holliday. Later in the fall of 1877 Doc was involved in an altercation during a card game with a bully named Bailey. At the card table, Bailey pulled a gun on Doc, but Doc pulled his knife and slashed Bailey across the stomach spilling Bailey's guts on the floor. Bailey died and Doc was taken into custody. It became apparent that a group was going to take matters into their own hands and hang Doc. That night Kate set fire to a shed and while all but the one guarding Doc went to fight the fire, she convinced the guard at gunpoint to release Doc. The two left town on stolen horses and headed to Dodge City.

In 1880 Kate was running a boarding house in Tombstone, Arizona, known as the Grand Hotel. Ike Clanton and two of the McLaury brothers stayed at the hotel the night before the gunfight in the OK Corral. If you are a history buff, there is a lot more story here, so I will leave it for you to research.

Kate has been known by many names including Katie Elder, Kate Fisher, Big Nose Kate, Nosey Kate, Mrs. Doc Holliday.

In her late years Kate described herself as, "A rip-roarin', hard-drinkin', gun-slingin' prostitute."

 

[BritChaser]

As I mentioned before on Friday night the Distillery was making Shady Lady Vodka.

Speaking of ladies in Dodge City, here is one from the past.

She was born Mary Katharine Haroney is Pest, Hungary on November 7, 1850. She came to the United States with her father, a doctor and family in 1860. Her father was appointed personal physician to Emperor Maximilian of Mexico. At age 16 Mary Katharine ran away from home. In 1869 she was working as a prostitute for madam Blanch Tribole in St. Louis. Then in 1874 "Kate" was fined for working as a "sporting woman" in a sporting house in Dodge City run by Nellie "Bessie" (Ketchum) Earp, James Earp's wife.

In 1876 Kate was in Fort Griffin, Texas, where she met Doc Holliday. Later in the fall of 1877 Doc was involved in an altercation during a card game with a bully named Bailey. At the card table, Bailey pulled a gun on Doc, but Doc pulled his knife and slashed Bailey across the stomach spilling Bailey's guts on the floor. Bailey died and Doc was taken into custody. It became apparent that a group was going to take matters into their own hands and hang Doc. That night Kate set fire to a shed and while all but the one guarding Doc went to fight the fire, she convinced the guard at gunpoint to release Doc. The two left town on stolen horses and headed to Dodge City.

In 1880 Kate was running a boarding house in Tombstone, Arizona, known as the Grand Hotel. Ike Clanton and two of the McLaury brothers stayed at the hotel the night before the gunfight in the OK Corral. If you are a history buff, there is a lot more story here, so I will leave it for you to research.

Kate has been known by many names including Katie Elder, Kate Fisher, Big Nose Kate, Nosey Kate, Mrs. Doc Holliday.

In her late years Kate described herself as, "A rip-roarin', hard-drinkin', gun-slingin' prostitute."

A woman who apparently did not put on airs but was what she was. :cheers: Great post, Mr. Byrd.

 

[buggy]

Awesome pictures and stories. My wife is from garden she still has a lot of family there love it out there thanks.