Abilene
[key]. 1 City (2020 pop. 6,460), seat of Dickinson co., central Kans., on the
Smoky Hill River; inc. 1869. It was (1867–71) a railhead for a large cattle-raising
region extending SW into Texas. Millions of cattle followed the Chisholm Trail into the cow town's stockyards prior to shipment. “Wild
Bill” Hickok was Abilene's marshal for a time. The city, a still
shipping point for a wheat and cattle region, has feed and flour mills. Abilene was the
boyhood home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower; the Eisenhower Center
includes his old family homestead, a museum, the Eisenhower Library, and his grave.
2 City (2020 pop. 125,182), seat of Taylor co., W central Tex.; inc. 1882.
Buffalo hunters first settled there; the town, which was founded in 1881 with the coming of
the railroad, was named after Abilene, Kans. Abilene grew as a shipping point for cattle
ranches and has become the financial, commercial, and educational center of a large part of W
Texas. The city's diversified manufactures include electronic, aircraft, and missile
components; oil-field and agricultural equipment; food and dairy products; clothing; metals;
and musical instruments. Livestock (cattle, sheep, and poultry); agriculture (cotton, wheat,
sorghum, and hay); and minerals (oil, natural gas, caliche, sand, gravel, and clays) are
important to the area's economy. Regional petroleum industry headquarters are in Abilene, and
Hardin-Simmons Univ., Abilene Christian Univ., and McMurry College are there.
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