Kenyon Road is one of the longest and busiest streets in Fort Dodge. Its eastern endpoint is near South Eighth Street. From there it crosses two huge bridges and extends all the way west to U.S. Highway 169.

It is named after William S. Kenyon, a Fort Dodge resident who served as a United States senator (1911 to 1922) and judge of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (1922 to 1933).

Kenyon was born June 10, 1869, in Ohio. His family moved to Iowa City while he was a child. He graduated from Iowa City schools and earned a bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College in Grinnell. He then earned a law degree from the University of Iowa.

He moved to Fort Dodge in 1890 to work in the law firm of John Duncombe.

He was elected Webster County attorney in 1894. Kenyon became a state district court judge in 1900.

In 1906, he went into the private sector to become general counsel for the Illinois Central Railroad.

He returned to government in 1910 as an assistant U.S. attorney general in charge of anti-trust and interstate commerce cases.

In 1911, the Iowa legislature chose him to complete the unexpired U.S. Senate term of Jonathon Dolliver, also of Fort Dodge, after Dolliver’s death. He was re-elected by the legislature in 1912 and by the voters in 1918.

After being appointed to the Circuit Court of Appeals, he served there until his death in 1933.