Moving to Fort Dodge

IcSyU

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Humboldt isn't a bad commute at all.

And anyone saying only Ottumwa is worse than Fort Dodge needs to visit Denison, Eagle Grove, Clarion, Marshalltown, and Clinton.

Taco Tico is f'n delicious and cheap. The Mexican place someone mentioned before is across the street from the west side of the mall (can't remember the name right now). Sports Page is great.

Fort Dodge Senior High has people from all walks like you'd expect in a 4A school. St. Ed's is Catholic. Humboldt has a good district that's going to get better since they're building onto the high school.
 

bpmcclain

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Humboldt isn't a bad commute at all.

And anyone saying only Ottumwa is worse than Fort Dodge needs to visit Denison, Eagle Grove, Clarion, Marshalltown, and Clinton.

Taco Tico is f'n delicious and cheap. The Mexican place someone mentioned before is across the street from the west side of the mall (can't remember the name right now). Sports Page is great.

Fort Dodge Senior High has people from all walks like you'd expect in a 4A school. St. Ed's is Catholic. Humboldt has a good district that's going to get better since they're building onto the high school.

Definitely agree about Marshalltown. If you want to score some meth, that town is your best bet
 

DesertClone1

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Rockwell City!!!!
but no really... you won't wanna live in Dodge... it really is a trashy town... stay away from the river at night... ala amigos...
don't find yourself in the flats... that's just a place you don't wanna be.

Depending on what your making... may want to look into buying/renting a place by the country club. normally really nice people.

RC is a small town... kind of an older community but really nice place to live.. i myself live out at Twin lakes... nice little rec lake i'm sure there is people who are willing to rent you out something.. 9 hole golf course out there.. all you really need is a 7 iron and a putter.

need any more info pm me and i'll be glad to help you out!
 

dmclone

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There are no decent size towns near enough to FD to commute so if I was you I would stick with FD. You probably can get a lot of house for the $$$. The people there will be like anywhere else in Iowa. I'm not big into slamming any town in Iowa, except Iowa City.
 

Havs

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Definitely agree about Marshalltown. If you want to score some meth, that town is your best bet

Marshalltown is a tale of two sides of the tracks (literally). One side nice, one side trashy. Mtown is within 45 mins of Ames and Des Moines too... Fort Dodge is a good 1 hr 45 mins from Des Moines. Your best bet would be to live in a small town between Fort Dodge and Ames like Stratford.
 

TrueAndValiant

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I was born and raised in FD. I still get the "I'm sorry" reaction from people, but I don't know why. Sure, there isn't a ton to do, but that's not too different from most Iowa towns. For elementary schools, look at Feelhaver or Butler (the newest building). The best restaurant in town is run by ICCC culinary students and a British Exec Chef; it's called Willow Ridge. Mineral City and Old Boston are fine; Sports Page has really gone downhill. Don't let these guys tell you how bad of a town it is.
 

daniel22

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Honestly, don't let these people scare you away. There are more things to do in FD than some of the smaller surrounding towns. Olde Boston's is a great place for a drink and some entertainment. The water park is brand new and good food Ja-Mar, Tico (cheap), Lomita's for Mexican, Mineral City and Sports Page is a great place to watch a game. Schools, Feelhaver, Cooper, St. Edmond are all good schools. If you are interested in Sand Volleyball, Amigos has a league in the summer and we have a solid adult softball league in the summer. If you need a list of quality realtors let me know.
 

EYEoftheSTORM

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You should make sure and buy a house in the Fort Dodge flats....

I hear they have a pretty close knit, caring community....:jimlad:
 

IcSyU

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Honestly, don't let these people scare you away. There are more things to do in FD than some of the smaller surrounding towns. Olde Boston's is a great place for a drink and some entertainment. The water park is brand new and good food Ja-Mar, Tico (cheap), Lomita's for Mexican, Mineral City and Sports Page is a great place to watch a game. Schools, Feelhaver, Cooper, St. Edmond are all good schools. If you are interested in Sand Volleyball, Amigos has a league in the summer and we have a solid adult softball league in the summer. If you need a list of quality realtors let me know.

Lomitas = Mexican buffet mentioned earlier in this thread...freaking great.
 

isu_oak

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Thanks for all the replies. I will probably be PMing quite a few of you.
 

dmclone

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I don't know anything about Fort Dodge but I'd recommend moving downtown otherwise expect capitalcityguy to rip you apart for contributing to urban sprawl.
 

isu_oak

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There are no decent size towns near enough to FD to commute so if I was you I would stick with FD. You probably can get a lot of house for the $$$. The people there will be like anywhere else in Iowa. I'm not big into slamming any town in Iowa, except Iowa City.
Iowa City is where I lived before moving to Lincoln. :smile:
 

2020cy

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I was just yanking your chain, people need to lighten up here it's Friday pm. I have played the Country Club, it's a nice course. Ft Dodge is a moderate size Iowa community, if you like the small town experience some of the towns you mentioned will be fine also.
 

CyBroncos

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Born and raised Fort Dodger here...I normally hate to admit that but am always glad to help a fellow Cyclone

Fort Dodge has a bad reputation and a lot of it is earned. That said there are some nice parts of town. Look on the north side and northeast side. Nice neighborhoods and good schools. I'm a public school grad but if I had to raise kids there and could afford it, I'd go the Catholic school route.

Towns in the area to commute from would be Humboldt, Rockwell City and Webster City. Webster City is only 35 minutes from Ames and only 10 minutes from I35.
 

CY ST8T

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Fort Dodge is not that bad. I grew up there all my life and never saw much of any of the trash unless you went down to the south side or flats. The good parts of dodge are not bad at all. Any realtor will show you that areas north of the high school or in the North 29th street area or perimeter are really nice as well as other areas. I graduated from St. Eds so I would recommend the private school route. Taco Tico is a favorite. Humboldt is also a nice smaller town then Dodge and really nothing bad about it other then it is mostly an aging community. Good Luck and ignore all the trash comments as they typically are visitors or people who spent too much time around south siders.
 
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fatkid1974

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van down by the river
I have an aunt and uncle that have lived in Ft. Dodge for 30+ years. They love it, they live up on the north side and always seem to be doing things in the community (art shows, photography events etc.). It has it's bad parts, but it's not near as bad as it was 20 years ago. I wouldn't have a problem going to the flats now a days, wouldn't live there but wouldn't be afraid to "drive down the hill". I do know there is a bar there that makes hella good pizza but for the life of me can't remember the name of it. I live about 50 min from Ft. Dodge and I'll drive there to do shopping versus dealing with the traffic & crowds in Des Moines or Omaha.
 

FDWxMan

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Fort Dodge is not that bad. I grew up there all my life and never saw much of any of the trash unless you went down to the south side or flats. The good parts of dodge are not bad at all. Any realtor will show you that areas north of the high school or in the North 29th street area or perimeter are really nice as well as other areas. I graduated from St. Eds so I would recommend the private school route. Taco Tico is a favorite. Humboldt is also a nice smaller town then Dodge and really nothing bad about it other then it is mostly an aging community. Good Luck and ignore all the trash comments as they typically are visitors or people who spent too much time around south siders.

Exactly...it's actually pretty laughable having grown up there some of the stories that you hear about it and they way some of the folks in this thread talk. I can't say I really saw much of that at all. No, it isn't pristine suburbia, but you can raise a family just fine there.

I remember stories about how we supposedly had to carry knives to the bathroom at Senior High. Pretty hilarious since I would classify my high school times as pretty ridiculously boring.

Sure, if you're looking for trouble, you can find it. (Like every other town).

Living somewhere else and commuting in is going to be nothing but a gigantic waste of your money.

I spent a good chunk of 21 years there, PM me with some questions, I'll give you some first hand info/accounts...or you can go with some of the drive-bys by the country clubbers here...