H. L. Sitler constructed the first building on the town site of Dodge City in 1871. The location of the sod house was five miles west of Fort Dodge. The spot was near a lone cottonwood tree standing near the entrance of Wright Park that marked a long-used ford across the Arkansas River. The first business that opened on the site of Dodge City was George M. Hoover and John McDonald's saloon. The story produced by Mike King tells the account of how Hoover, a Canadian at age twenty-four, carefully measured out the distance of five miles west of Fort Dodge jurisdiction. On the morning of June 17, 1872, Hoover and McDonald's erected a tent and unloaded a wagon full of whiskey, and by 8:00 a.m., the first saloon in the area was open. He then moved his business establishment, the Hoover & McDonald Wines and Liquors, in 1874 to No. 36, Front Street.
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