Front Street, Dodge City, KS 1876

Gunsmoke was set in Dodge City, Kansas between 1872, when the Santa Fe Railroad reached town, and 1885, when local farmers forced the end of the Texas cattle drives along the Western Trail. Dodge City, known as the "Queen of the Cow Towns," the "Wicked Little City," the "Gomorrah of the Plains," had a reputation as a hostile, lawless town where the "fastest gun" ruled. As the opening of the show proclaimed: "Around Dodge City and in the territory on west, there's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers and that's with a U.S. Marshal and the smell of gunsmoke." That marshall, Matt Dillon, was modeled after the real lawmen who "tamed" (or at least kept a lid on) Dodge City: US Deputy Marshall Wyatt Earp (1848-1929), Sheriff Bat Masterson (1856-1921), Sheriff Bill Tilghman (1854-1924), and Sheriff Charlie Bassett.