A look back at Abilene, Texas, on its 130th anniversary

A mere 130 years ago today, Abilene was born. The place was already inhabited, with nomadic Native Americans, U.S. military personnel, buffalo hunters and ranchers calling the area home, according to the city of Abilene's website. But the 1881 sale of lots on March 15 and 16 sealed the deal, said Abilene historian and history teacher Jay Moore. The Texas and Pacific Railroad had been given land by the state of Texas, laying track from Fort Worth to El Paso. The railroad and some ranchers got together and chose the city's eventual site about 50 miles from Eastland, which at the time was already a "little village," Moore said. The story of Abilene needs to be placed in the context of all the towns created by the T&P, said Rob Sledge, historian-in-residence for McMurry University's McWhiney Foundation and distinguished professor emeritus with the university. "Abilene was the centerpiece to all of that," he said, intended to be a vital central distribution point in West Central Texas. In addition to its role as a water stop, creating towns like Abilene created economic opportunity, Moore said. The town layout itself — streets named after trees running perpendicular to the railway, numbered streets running parallel — is repeated from Weatherford to Big Spring, Sledge said...more