ABILENE

city, seat (1883) of Taylor county (and partly in Jones County), west-central Texas, U.S. It lies on low, rolling plains 153 miles (246 km) west of Fort Worth. Founded in 1881 as the new railhead (Texas and Pacific Railway) for the overland Texas cattle drives, it took not only the business of the previous railhead, Abilene, Kan., but also its biblical name. The city's economy, originally based solely on livestock and agriculture, has expanded to include industry. Petroleum and natural gas are produced in a multicounty area, of which Abilene is the centre. The city's manufactures include light machinery, aerospace structures, and band instruments. Abilene is the site of Hardin-Simmons University (1891), Abilene Christian University (1906), and McMurry University (1923). Dyess Air Force Base lies just southwest. The West Texas Fair, rodeos, and livestock shows are annual events. Old Abilene Town (northeast) is a reconstructed Texas frontier town. Inc. 1881. Pop. (1994 est.) city, 110,034; Abilene MSA, 121,904. city, seat (1861) of Dickinson county, east-central Kansas, U.S. The city lies along the Smoky Hill River. Settled in 1858 and known as Mud Creek, it was named about 1860 for the biblical Abilene (which means "grassy plain"). Development was slow until Joseph McCoy, a cattle entrepreneur and later mayor of Abilene, selected it for the northern terminus of the Texas cattle drives in 1867, the year the Kansas Pacific Railroad reached this point. The biggest year of cattle drives to Abilene over the Chisholm Trail was 1871, when more than 5,000 cowboys driving 700,000 cows arrived at the yards. With the prosperity of the cattlemen came an era of lawlessness. The famed gunman Wild Bill Hickok served as the town's marshal in 1871. The appearance of homesteaders and fenced ranges discouraged the Texas cattle trade, much of which was diverted to Wichita. Abilene is still a shipping point for livestock, as well as for grain and other agricultural products, and it has some light industry. President Dwight D. Eisenhower spent his boyhood in Abilene, and he is buried at the Eisenhower Center, which also encompasses his family home and library. Inc. 1869. Pop. (1990) 6,242.