Moving to Fort Dodge

[SNEDDS3]

Ha, fair enough. I grew up in Ames and Boone was always the town we made fun of. Ft Dodge has some nice parts but its rough parts are really rough

I can agree. me personally, i wouldn't CHOOSE to live there....but thats just me.

 

[UNIGuy4Cy]

Don't let some people trying to make a cheap joke keep you away from Fort Dodge. It no doubt has it's issues but there are good people there. I grew up around the N. 29th Street area myself and had a normal childhood. There are parts of town that you don't want to live in, but you will figure that out fast. I hope you pick FD, it needs young professionals.

no it needs to be torn down

 

[UNIGuy4Cy]

Don't let some people trying to make a cheap joke keep you away from Fort Dodge. It no doubt has it's issues but there are good people there. I grew up around the N. 29th Street area myself and had a normal childhood. There are parts of town that you don't want to live in, but you will figure that out fast. I hope you pick FD, it needs young professionals.

no it needs to be torn down

 

[Neckbeard]

no it needs to be torn down

So insightful you had to post it twice?

 

[LindenCy]

Fort Dodge is a prefectly fine place to live, my family live just the north in Badger(10-15 min commute). Spent most of my spare time growing up in Fort Dodge between school activities and friends. Generally the nicest neighborhoods are along and north of 10th Avenue North. The NE corner especially has a lot of recommend for it due to the proximity to the shopping, restaurant, aquatic center, as well as the new middle school if you stuck around for a few years. Even the south side of town isn't that bad,

Best elementary schools are Feelhaver and Cooper imo(located in the zones I recommended for living), Butler school is the newest and nicest but located in the poorer south side of town and struggles somewhat in that respect. Also among your choices if you would rather avoid public schools are St. Eds Catholic and Community Christian, both of which are on the far NE side of Fort Dodge(near the high school). I attended Hillcrest and that worked as well, if your involved with your kids education any school would likely work.

Favorite eats:
Community Pizza and Tap: great pizza
Mineral City- general nice eatery with a focus on pasta dishes
Sports Page- sports bar, solid but unspectacular food.
Olde Boston's- best beer selection in Fort Dodge(admittedly that's not a huge accomplishment), good food as well, last 3 all owned by same folks and they do a nice job, Sports Page is the weakest of the bunch, servers tend to be less attentive and ruder.
Lomitas- great Mexican
Chen Garden- best Chinese in town imo.
Local area recommends:
Chang's Chinese Kitchen Humboldt - some fantastic Chinese
Vinny's BBQ Dakota City(right next to Humboldt)- excellent bbq, somewhat limited hours
Unkies- Thor, IA Great Pork chops and steak. To make a restaurant go in a 200 person town you need to do a slam dunk job and these guys do with the food.

Things to do:
Fort Dodge definitely lacks in this department, not exactly a rarity among smaller cities though.
Fort 8- 8 screen theater, 8 dollar movies.
New Aquatic center- reasonably priced and a lot of fun
Snell Crawford Park-nice roomy park old rail line trail great for walks, runs or bike rides.
Fort Dodge Rec- rec center for basketball, swimming, lifting ect
A hobby well worth taking up in the area is Canoeing/kayaking/tubing. The Fort Dodge area has some excellent streams and rivers for it. Lizard Creek, the Des Moines and its forks and the Boone R. by Webster City are all within 30 min and nice floats, weather permitting.

Wait a second, someone actually answered the OP's question? :smile:

 

[RobertsFranklin]

This thread is cracking me up. I grew up in Humboldt and some of the places and names for Ft. Dodge are bringing back a lot of memories. (We use to call it Fat Dog) My dad worked at Ft. Dodge Labs. When my folks moved from Wisc. they decided to live in Humboldt after looking around. Humboldt is a class 3-A school for athletics. Like somebody else mentioned they are moving the Jr. High up to the Sr. High school, construction is under way. They have also been doing some road construction on Hwy 169 between Ft. Dodge and Humb. This will help a lot because traffic seems like it's always slow in this area. Humboldt just built a new aquatic center. Obviously my vote is for Humboldt but I'm a bit biased. It was a great place to grow up and I have several classmates who moved back to work and raise their families.

 

[Cy4Lifer]

Community Tap & Pizza is the best! Also, good sports bar is Third Base, I think on Central Ave.

 

[RoseClone]

Sorry to hear this. No to all.

Run and run fast the other way

Well, another Ankeny snot. You guys are well represented in this thread.

 

[jamesfnb]

I grew up near Fort Dump, my cousins were raised in Fort Dump, and I spent 2 years at Iowa Central Community College. Seriously, I wouldn't raise my kids there if they gave me a free house. I'd live in Humboldt or Webster City and commute. Both are smaller towns with smaller schools and neither has the Flats or high crime like Fort Dump. Webster City is close to I35 so you can quickly jump on to get down to Ames or Des Moines or North to the Twin Cities.

Fort Dodge does have some good places to eat. Community Tap for pizza, Sports Page for bar food and The Cellar for a great steak.

 

[Mesaclone1]

Born and raised in Fort Dodge...though I left back in the mid-80's when I joined the army. Absolutely great place to grow up...good schools and good people and Fort Dodge Senior High is a great place, I have a couple classmates who still teach there. So don't buy 90% of this crap. It is a very "slow" pace of living, but that's part of its charm. If you can afford to live at the Country Club its very nice up there, but most of the North Side of town is nice as well.

As for the flats, I used to go down there all the time to play basketball...never had any trouble at all.

Anyway, best of luck to you in a very nice, typical, midwestern small town.

 

[St8Fan]

OK, so no one likes Ft. Dodge. What do people know about living in Webster City, Humboldt, Rockwell City, or some of the small towns around the area?

There are some good Cyclones from Ft. Dodge, and just to prepare you....it is pronounced as one word...Fortodge....almost one syllable...when you're drunk.

At least that's what the natives taught me one semester! I learn good!

My friends were from Humboldt & Badger. One works in Ft. Dodge...the rest Des Moines.

 

[ItsCyence]

Well, another Ankeny snot. You guys are well represented in this thread.

Most of Ankeny people haven't seen the other side of the fence like I have.

 

[theDuke11]

I grew up there.... Definitely buy a house on the north side. Feelhaver is the best elementary school... I think it's the only one with A/C and working heat. Cooper or Duncombe are ok. Stay away from Riverside and Hillcrest. My mom has been a teacher in FD for 25 years. I know a few realtors PM me if you need help with that. Other than that I think iastate fans synopsis of FD was pretty spot on. A few other local places to eat would be Lefty's and Rides(cheap good burgers) but they are restaurant/bars. Best places are the Cellar and Mineral City. Also to who posted about 3rd base, it's closed now.

 

[everyyard]

I might be taking a job in Fort Dodge and would like some recommendations from people who live or have lived there.

wow. sorry man.

 

[FDWxMan]

Dirty Dodge I won't step foot in that drug town again! My buddy lives there and its like the East side of Waterloo, drugs and crime. Live in Jewell. Easy commute and nice town.

So was this actually your buddy, or was this your neighbor's buddy?

Or maybe it was you neighbor's buddy who read it on HN and then told you about it? :biglaugh:

 

[UNIGuy4Cy]

So was this actually your buddy, or was this your neighbor's buddy?

Or maybe it was you neighbor's buddy who read it on HN and then told you about it? :biglaugh:

I have two friends who graduated school there and have a friend from there. My moms neighbor by Jewell commutes there every day. So ya know a little something

 

[CY ST8T]

Notice how all the j/arses who slam dodge have someone they know who used to live there or something ******** about passing through the bad parts. Listen to the people that actually grew up all their life outside of the rougher parts and you will find that FD is not that bad and I enjoyed growing up there. Some idiots on here too just like to stir stuff up no matter the subject. I can tell you over the years I have lived in Boone, Fort Dodge and Waterloo and I'd say that Fort Dodge was probably the nicest of those three.

 

[Cymon]

Me and my friends always made fun of Ft. Dodge as well when we were growing up but honestly never had any issues there. It's got its really nice parts and not so nice parts.

Taco-Tico is to die for. I am amazed there aren't more of those around.

I know the owners of Tracey's Tots daycare in Ft. Dodge. Check them out.

 

[IcSyU]

If UNIGuy4Cy says it sucks, its probably not all that bad.

 

[Wesley]

My girlfriend is from Ft Dodge. Definitely has its rough parts, but its not all bad. Just stay out of the flats. The waterpark is fun. As for restaurants, Ive heard Mineral City is good but Ive never had it. I always go to Hardees since Ames doesnt have one

I had a girlfriend maned Patti from Ft Dodge once. She was the best part of Ft Dodge.