“Grenville Dodge” is a part of the Capitol Avenue Bronze public art collection . . donated to the City of Cheyenne by private individuals, organizations or companies. For more information about the Capitol Avenue Bronze Project, visit Deselms Fine Art at https://deselmsfineart.com
Grenville Dodge was born April 12, 1831 in Danvers, Massachusetts. He a Union Army officer during the Civil War, a railroad executive an surveyor, and a U.S. Congressman from Iowa. Responsible for laying out the Union Pacific tracks through southern Wyoming, he is considered the founder of the city of Cheyenne.
Historian Stanley P. Hirshon suggested that Dodge, "by virtue of the range of his abilities and activities," could be considered "more important in the national life after the Civil War than his more famous colleagues and friends, Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan.”
In 1851, at the age of 20, Dodge worked as a surveyor for the Illinois Central Railroad. Moving to Iowa in the early 1850s, he supervised railroad construction throughout the state until the start of the war. Dodge helped raise the 4th Regiment, Iowa Volunteer Infantry and was elected its first colonel. At the start of General Curtis' winter campaign, Dodge was appointed to command of the 1st Brigade, 4th Division.
His aggressiveness and engineering expertise would prove to be one of the key factors in the Federal victory at Pea Ridge, Arkansas. Dodge would eventually rise to command the Federal XVI Corps during the Atlanta Campaign and ended the war as a Major General of Volunteers. With the exception of Philip Sheridan, no other participant in the Civil War, either North or South, would be as successful as Grenville Dodge.
After the war, Dodge resigned his commission and returned to his true passion - railroading. In 1866, he was appointed the Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad. From 1866 through 1869, Dodge played an instrumental part in the creation of the transcontinental railroad, and would continue to play a key role in the further expansion of the railroads throughout the later part of the 19th Century. (The famous Kansas railroad and cattle town, Dodge City, was named in his honor.) Besides his work with the Union Pacific Railroad, Dodge served in the United States Congress as one of Iowa's Representatives. Dodge died in January, 1916.
At a celebration on July 4, 1867, Dodge announced the selection of a town site for Union Pacific mountain region headquarters adjacent to the bridge the railroad planned to build across Crow Creek in the Territory of Dakota. At the same celebration, Major General Christopher C. Augur announced the selection of a site three miles (5 km) west of Crow Creek Crossing for a U.S. Army fort to protect the railroad.
The Union Pacific Railroad platted its Crow Creek Crossing town site on July 5, 1867. Residents named the town Cheyenne for the Cheyenne Native American people.
To learn more about the Capitol Avenue Bronze Project, visit this link . For more information about each artist, sponsoring a bronze, or becoming a donor/supporter at any level, please contact Harvey Deselms at Deselms Fine Art, located at 303 E. 17th Street Cheyenne. Email is deslemsart@aol.com or call at 307 432 0606
