2014
Fort Dodge Grand Opening - April 15, 1965
From the April 15, 1965 St. Petersburg Times -
WEEKI WACHEE - Fort Dodge, a few and different Florida adventure, swings open it’s stockage gate to the public at 9am today.
Located north of here in US 19, the attraction is owned and operated by the Paul Bolstein family of St. Petersburg.
Visitors can pan for gold in a cool mountain stream, ride a pony through Mystery Mountain, or watch a daring band of raiders bite the dust - all in one afternoon.
Bostein said, “There’s picnic grounds here and lots of room to roam around.”
WEEKI WACHEE - Fort Dodge, a few and different Florida adventure, swings open it’s stockage gate to the public at 9am today.
Located north of here in US 19, the attraction is owned and operated by the Paul Bolstein family of St. Petersburg.
Visitors can pan for gold in a cool mountain stream, ride a pony through Mystery Mountain, or watch a daring band of raiders bite the dust - all in one afternoon.
Bostein said, “There’s picnic grounds here and lots of room to roam around.”
Old Fort Dodge - LOCATED!
In my quest for the location of the 60’s era theme park FORT DODGE, I headed to the land office for Hernando County Florida. There I located deeds to property purchased by the Bolstein Family that was once old Fort Dodge.
I also located a bill for electrical work to wire the theme park from an electrical company (now out of business) in St. Pete.
Paul Bolstein and his wife purchased roughly 30 acres on US 19 approximately 8 miles north of Weeki Wachee. I was worried that would put the park on the ground of the current Winding Waters / Weeki Wachee High School.
I found documents and plats that indicated the Bolstein Family purchased three lots in an area known as HI-WAY FARMS, FIRST ADDITION. The dimension of each lot was indicated on the plat. I added up the total number of feet from the reference road (Atlanta Avenue), and determined the conversion to mileage. The portion of old Fort Dodge that fronted US 19 was between .87 and .99 miles north of Atlanta Avenue.
I left the land office, jumped in my car and headed to US 19. I hit the GPS at Atlanta Avenue. As I drove by Winding Waters Middle and Weeki Wachee High, the GPS began to climb - .25 miles - .50 miles - .87 miles….I cleared the school!
But - right next door sat Weeki Wachee North, a 55+ manufactured home community….exactly .87 to .99 miles north of Atlanta Avenue, where property records indicated was once the home of old Fort Dodge.
So, as far as my hopes of locating remnants of Fort Dodge appear to be dashed, but my hunt for information and memorabilia on this lost piece of Florida roadside continues.
I’ll keep you posted.
I also located a bill for electrical work to wire the theme park from an electrical company (now out of business) in St. Pete.
Paul Bolstein and his wife purchased roughly 30 acres on US 19 approximately 8 miles north of Weeki Wachee. I was worried that would put the park on the ground of the current Winding Waters / Weeki Wachee High School.
I found documents and plats that indicated the Bolstein Family purchased three lots in an area known as HI-WAY FARMS, FIRST ADDITION. The dimension of each lot was indicated on the plat. I added up the total number of feet from the reference road (Atlanta Avenue), and determined the conversion to mileage. The portion of old Fort Dodge that fronted US 19 was between .87 and .99 miles north of Atlanta Avenue.
But - right next door sat Weeki Wachee North, a 55+ manufactured home community….exactly .87 to .99 miles north of Atlanta Avenue, where property records indicated was once the home of old Fort Dodge.
So, as far as my hopes of locating remnants of Fort Dodge appear to be dashed, but my hunt for information and memorabilia on this lost piece of Florida roadside continues.
I’ll keep you posted.
Adventures in Roadside Archaeology - Old Fort Dodge
It seems that just over half a century ago, an entrepreneur named Paul Bolstein opened FORT DODGE - a wild west town off US 19 just north of Weeki Wachee Springs. Problem is, it was only in operation for a couple years until the opening of Interstate 75 took all his customers away.
I can find little information on this roadside tourist stop. I did manage to track down one of Mr. Bolstein’s daughters - Paul passed a few years ago, and one of his daughters that did have a lot do to with Fort Dodge passed last year. A day late and a dollar short.
From the information I’ve been able to find, Fort Dodge is either 4, 5, 6 or 8 miles north of Weeki Wachee Springs. My quest now is to find the exact location of this slice of lost Florida Roadside and see if any remnants remain. Until then, here’s an old 8mm film of Fort Dodge in it’s glory days.
If you have any information on Fort Dodge, I’d love to hear about it.