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- A sign saying guns were banned in Abilene was shot so badly that nobody could read it. ❖ A jail was built in Abilene in 1870, but it was demolished by cowboys. ❖ In early 1870, Thomas Smith was appointed town marshal of Abilene. He was killed in November the same year.
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Abilene, first of Kansas' railroad cow towns, was typical of these frontier communities in its beginning, civic development, and transition. It began as a station on the Overland stage lines and reached its zenith as one of a succession of northern railroad terminals and shipping points on Texas cattle trails, over which millions of longhorn ...
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In 1870, however, Smith was murdered while attempting to arrest a man near the town of Detroit. Tom Smith's successor as city marshal was the famous Wild Bill Hickok.
Dec 21, 2020 · McCoy referred many cattlemen to the First National Bank of Kansas City for their banking needs. When the facility opened a local bank in 1870 in Abilene, over $900,000 passed over the counter in the bank’s first two months; this amount would be the equivalent of over $15 million today.
Jun 19, 2017 · The decade of the 1870’s went a long way in changing Kansas from a windswept open prairie to America’s agricultural heartland. The tranquil appearance of the vast open spaces belies the state’s rough and sometimes bloody path to the Kansas of today.
- Kathryn Albright
- Location
- Early history
- Setting
- Aftermath
- Construction
- Reign
- Death
- Later years
Located on the north bank of the Smoky Hill River, about 95 miles west of Topeka, Kansas, Abilene is the county seat and largest city of Dickinson County. Though best known as the Queen of Kansas Cowtowns, Abilene already existed for a decade before the cattle came to town.
First settled in 1858, it was named by Timothy and Eliza Hersey from a passage in the Bible, meaning city of the plains. The first terminus of and later a station on the Butterfield Overland Stage Line, the Herseys secured a contract with the company to feed the passengers and employees. The establishment, consisting of two log houses, a log stable...
However, its sleepy little existence changed when a livestock dealer from Illinois, named Joseph G. McCoy saw Abilene as the perfect place for a railhead from which to ship cattle from. McCoy chose the site because of the abundance of grass and water in the area. Before the town developed into a major shipping center, McCoy described it as: Abilene...
But, McCoy would change that. He soon sent circulars all over Texas advertising Abilene as a new shipping point, and built a stockyard and a hotel called the Drovers Cottage. Before the close of the year 1867 some 35,000 cattle had been driven there for shipment on the new railroad to the eastern markets. Under his leadership, the town reigned as t...
The town began to build a stone jail, but about the time the walls were up, a band of cowboys tore them down. In 1870, a new brick and stone courthouse was built at the corner of Broadway and Second Streets. The same year, the much-needed Merchants Hotel was built by Kerney & Guthie, a two-story building that provided a place to stay for the many c...
Known as the No gun marshal, he gained a reputation for subduing assailants with his fists rather than a gun and within a short time, he succeeded in disarming most of the desperate characters, bringing about a reign of law and order.
But, Smiths Abilene career would be cut short on November 2, 1870, when he was attempting to arrest an accused murderer named Andrew McConnell. The outlaw shot Smith, but the lawman returned fire, wounding McConnell, before falling to the ground. McConnells co-conspirator in the original crime, a man named Miles, then struck Smith with his gun, gra...
However, Hickok spent most of his time in the Alamo Saloon, the center of the towns wild life, and was not too friendly with the upstanding folks of Abilene. Instead, he spent more time at the gaming tables and with the ladies of the evening than he did taking care of his sheriff duties.
Feb 23, 2023 · Lawmen Tom “Bear River” Smith and Wild Bill Hickok, who were charged with keeping a lid on the rowdy cowboys and drovers on Texas Street. Smith was killed in 1870 by a homesteader north of Abilene, and Hickok left town, only to be fatally shot in a card game in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, in 1876.
Nov 28, 2014 · In the late 1860’s and early 1870’s, Abilene, Kansas emerged as one of the region’s first railroad cow towns. The strategic placement of a railroad switch in the area facilitated the easy loading and shipping of cattle from Texas out across the Midwest, quickly transforming what had been an isolated way station along the Pony Express ...
