| div cl | | | | their own weapons. |
| Matt Dillonâthat venerable and fictional | | | | Dodge City, Kansas was born June 17, 1872 on |
| U.S. Marshall headquartered in Dodge | | | | the windswept prairie five miles west of the Fort |
| Cityâwas probably a composite of | | | | Dodge military reservation. The new settlement |
| several lawmen who wore a badge and enforced | | | | included a three-room sod house built in 1871 by |
| the law in the Kansas cowtown of Dodge City. | | | | pioneer rancher Henry Sitler, and a barroom in a |
| Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp were two of the | | | | tent. The location was deliberate: Liquor was |
| more famous lawmen who sought to impose | | | | prohibited in Fort Dodge, and the fledgling town |
| order on the lawless in the cowtown of Dodge | | | | was located just outside the military preserve. |
| City. Both men favored .45 caliber Navy Colt | | | | Other businesses soon followed the barroom, and |
| revolvers, though neither had to use them all that | | | | on August 15, the town was organized as Buffalo |
| often. A reputation for being a fast draw and | | | | City. In October the name was changed to Dodge |
| deadly with a gun was often the best weapon in | | | | City. There was already a Buffalo, Kansas, and |
| a town tamerâs arsenal, since it | | | | the U.S. |
| discouraged would-be lawbreakers from drawing | | | | |