DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just the one along for the ride. Picture a hill east of Cedar Creek, out in Taylor County — not much to look at on its own, but in December of 1880, the right people gathered on that hill to make a decision that would change the whole face of west Texas. H.C.
Whithers, representing the Texas and Pacific Railroad, rode out to meet some local men, and together they were going to figure out where to put a cattle shipping center. Now, the county seat of Buffalo Gap was right there, an obvious choice — but obvious wasn't what happened that day. The railroad bypassed Buffalo Gap entirely and platted a brand new town, naming it Abilene after the famous cattle town in Kansas.
Among the cattlemen meeting with Whithers was John N. Simpson — Dallas banker and co-owner of the Hashknife Ranch. And then there were the Merchant brothers: Confederate Colonels Claiborne W. — known as Clabe — and J.D.
Merchant, twin brothers, ranchers both, who had moved out to Callahan County six years before that hilltop meeting. When the planning was done and the lots were drawn up, the bidding opened in March of 1881, and by all accounts it was brisk. People wanted in.
Abilene grew quickly from there, and it became what the marker calls a significant regional city of west Texas. All of it — the city, the growth, the story — traced right back to one December meeting on a hill east of Cedar Creek, where a railroad man and a handful of cattlemen looked out at the open country and decided to build something new.
What the marker says
(on hill east of Cedar Creek) In December 1880, H.C. Whithers of the Texas & Pacific Railroad met local men here to decide on a site for a cattle shipping center. Bypassing the county seat of Buffalo Gap, the railroad platted a new town named Abilene for the famous cattle town in Kansas. Cattlemen meeting with Whithers were Dallas banker and Hashknife Ranch co-owner John N. Simpson, and Confederate Colonels Claiborne W. (Clabe) and J.D. Merchant, twin brothers and ranchers who moved to Callahan County six years earlier. Brisk bidding ensued at a sale of city lots in March 1881. Abilene grew quickly and became a significant regional city of west Texas. (1968, 2007)