Dickinson County History
"Abilene, Past and Present"
M. Hofman, 1885
Abilene Past and Present.
by M. Hofman
Twenty years ago the valley of the
Smoky Hill from Chapman Creek to
Solomon City presented here and there,
at long intervals, a small farm, the
buildings on which would have to be
looked for principally underground.
consisting mainly of "dug-outs" both
for dwellings and stables. The extensive bottoms and the sloping hillsides
from Lamb's Point to Sand Springs
showed hardly a sign of occupancy or
cultivation, and were the free range of
the small number of cattle and horses
then kept in this valley. The same
holds good of the town of Abilene,
which, as late as 1867, consisted of
scarcely a dozen log shanties, chief
among which was the "Hotel de Hersey"on the west side of Mud Creek, a
stopping place for the overland stages
in ante railroad times. With the advent of the railroad, summer 1866, some
stir was created: and in the following
year a few cheap frame buildings were
added.
A new era dates from the
spring of 1868, when the large stock
yards east of town were built, also the
Cottage Hotel, McCoy's stable and office, these two being at that time the
only buildings north of the railroad, all
the rest being still the undisputed herding ground for cattle. Early in the
same year the Farmers' & Drovers'
store, in block 4, and the store of Geo.
Seely, corner 1st and Cedar, and some
other frame buildings on 1st street, were
erected. Gradually the same street was
built up from the initial point, corner
1st and Buckeye, west to the creek.
Mr. Hersey also got a steam saw mill
in operation on the east bank of Mud
creek, some five blocks north of the
bridge, quite an important enterprise
for the place, there being as yet no lumber yard here, all the lumber being
brought to Junction City and re-shipped
to this place, a mode of proceeding
which added greatly to the cost of
building. However, Mr. Hersey's saw
mill converted most of the available
timber in the river bottoms, chiefly
cottonwood and elm, into building material and thus greatly helped
the building up of the town. Brick were brought
from Manhattan at a cost of $5.00 per
100. A lumber yard was at this time,
summer 1868, started in block 4 by Mr.
Hoyt, and the town was steadily growing. County buildings at this time there
were none, the Treasurer's office being
kept at the house of Mr. J. B. Shane, a
one-story two room shanty in Block 8.
The county records were kept in the
drug store of Dr. H. C. Brown in Block
3, First street.
On the 25th of June,
1869, the creek overflowed all that portion of the town south of the track,
together with all the low ground north of
the track to the foot of the hill the
whole town site the grounds near the
Cottage being the only spot not under
water, and becoming, for the time, the
refuge of the frightened inhabitants of
the town. One light frame building on
1st street was carried to the middle of
the road. Another, a harness shop
standing on Mr. Seely's lot, was floated
off a distance of three blocks. The
railroad track from crossing of Cedar
street to the bridge was washed away,
and the slender contents of Mr. Hoyt's
lumber yard found their way into the
river. Traffic on the railroad remained
interrupted for about three weeks, and
the writer drove to Junction City, by
way of upper Chapman creek, for supplies, July 4, 1869. There have been
two overflows, though less in volume,
since then, one in October, 1870, and
one in May, 1877.
In the autumn of
1869 the town site passed by purchase
into the hands of Augustine & Lebold,
and in the spring of 1870 the town took
a notable start, the vacant tract north
of the railroad beginning to gradually
settle up. With the end of the Texas
cattle trade, fall of 1871, the north side
began to fill up, and most of the business houses moved to that side, and 1st
street for a time assumed a forlorn and
deserted appearance. The building of
a court house, comer Broadway and N.
2d streets, in 1871, and of a new school
house at the north end of Broadway, in
1873, were chiefly instrumental in drawing the town in that direction, and
proved a paying speculation for the wily projectors. The setting up of a print
ing office and issuing of a weekly news
paper was at the time quite a sensation
for the young town, as also the county
seat fight between Abilene and Detroit,
spring of 1870.
Of the later history of Abilene it is
not my province to speak; the town has
at present three weekly papers and a
population of about 4,500, but in this
point it still falls short of the ardent expectations of its sanguine projector,
who, in 1870, on the basis of observations taken in other states, predicted
for this place a population of 12,000 in
side of ten years from that date.
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