Heritage & Culture

It was about 1875 when settlers began to arrive in any appreciable numbers in what is now Taylor County. In 1878, Taylor County was formed from the Bexar and Travis land districts, with Buffalo Gap, Texas being named the county seat.

With the railroad completed, a town lot auction was held on March 15, 1881, and ABILENE was "born." By the end of the next day, 317 lots were sold for the sum of $51,360. The remaining lots were sold at a private sale.

Historical Downtown Walking Tour

Join us for a walking tour of a West Texas town that's more than a century old. Follow in the footsteps of the builders of the frontier that made Abilene what it is today.

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Taylor County Historical Commission

In the late seventies, this group was named the Taylor County Historical Commission, sharing the name of the larger statewide body known as the Texas Historical Commission.

Before that, it was called the "survey committee", and it was founded in the mid-1950s by the late Mrs. Dallas Scarborough. Since those days its members have included some of the outstanding citizens of Abilene and Taylor County.

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