Abilene (Texas)
Abilene | ||
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Nickname : The Friendly Frontier, The Key City | ||
Downtown Abilene |
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Location of Abilene in Texas | ||
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Basic data | ||
Foundation : | 1881 | |
State : | United States | |
State : | Texas | |
County : | Taylor County | |
Coordinates : | 32 ° 27 ′ N , 99 ° 45 ′ W | |
Time zone : | Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 ) | |
Inhabitants : - Metropolitan Area : |
122,225 (as of 2016) 170,364 (as of 2016) |
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Population density : | 448.9 inhabitants per km 2 | |
Area : | 286.5 km 2 (approx. 111 mi 2 ) of which 272.3 km 2 (approx. 105 mi 2 ) are land |
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Height : | 524 m | |
Postcodes : | 79600-79699 | |
Area code : | +1 325 | |
FIPS : | 48-01000 | |
GNIS ID : | 1329173 | |
Website : | www.abilenetx.com | |
Mayor : | Norm Archibald |
Abilene ( Hebrew for city on the plain ) is a city in the US state of Texas .
The city was founded in 1881 at the time of the railway construction in the region. Hardin – Simmons University was founded in 1891, ten years later . The place is 524 meters above sea level.
Abilene prides itself on a long military history dating back to 1800. Home to Dyess Air Force Base with its Rockwell B-1 bomber fleet and Lockheed C-130 transport aircraft , this military tradition will continue into the 21st century.
geography
Abilene is located in the northwest corner of Taylor County, in central northwest Texas, and is on the southern edge of the Texas Panhandle .
traffic
Abilene is connected to the east-west running Interstate 20 and the north-south running US Highways 83, 84 and 277. The connection with the Texas and Pacific Railroad, which has existed since 1881, continues to this day.
Abilene station is still there, but is only used for freight traffic. The reception building has been extensively restored in recent years. On May 11, 2016, a plaque was unveiled in front of the building and the building was recognized as a "Texas Historic Landmark".
history
Abilene owes its existence to the Texas and Pacific Railroad as well as a few ranchers and land speculators. Prior to the arrival of the railroad, the Abilene area was sporadically populated by migrating Native Americans, then by the military, buffalo hunters, and ranchers. After 1870 the Indians were expelled and the herds of cattle farmers grazed in the area.
In 1878 Taylor County was formed and Buffalo Gap was elected the county seat . When the Texas and Pacific Railroad began moving its tracks westward in 1880, several businessmen and land speculators got together to get the railroad company to move the tracks across their land. They volunteered the land, and a small town called Abilene, named after the cattle town of the same name, Abilene in Kansas , was founded.
After the arrival of the railroad in 1881, it endorsed the new location and named it the Future Great City of West Texas . The town grew rapidly, many business people moved to the new town because of the rail link, and on October 23, 1883, Abilene was elected the new seat of the county government. In 1890 the place already had 3,194 inhabitants and in 1910 the number of inhabitants had increased to 9,204.
growth of population | |||
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Census | Residents | ± in% | |
1890 | 3194 | - | |
1900 | 3411 | 6.8% | |
1910 | 9204 | 169.8% | |
1920 | 10,274 | 11.6% | |
1930 | 23,175 | 125.6% | |
1940 | 26,612 | 14.8% | |
1950 | 45,570 | 71.2% | |
1960 | 90,368 | 98.3% | |
1970 | 89,653 | -0.8% | |
1980 | 98,315 | 9.7% | |
1990 | 106,707 | 8.5% | |
2000 | 115.930 | 8.6% | |
2010 | 117.063 | 1 % | |
1930-2000, 2010 |
sons and daughters of the town
- Roy Crane (1901–1977), comic book artist and a pioneer of classic adventure comics
- Bill Sharman (1926-2013), basketball player and coach
- Jim Hall (* 1935), former racing driver and racing car designer
- Mason Williams (* 1938), guitarist and composer
- Gregory Hoblit (* 1944), film producer and film director
- Wayne Wells (* 1946), wrestler and Olympic champion
- Lyn Collins (1948-2005), soul singer
- Bill Maddox (1953-2010), rock jazz drummer
- Dennis González (* 1954), jazz trumpeter, author and music teacher
- Lee Roy Parnell (born 1956), country singer and songwriter
- Chris Bell (* 1959), politician, member of the US House of Representatives
- Michael T. Lacey (* 1959), mathematician
- David W. Harper (born 1961), actor
- Shae D'Lyn (born 1962), actress
- Deirdre Lovejoy (born 1962), actress
- Guy Penrod (* 1963), gospel and Christian music singer
- Jessica Simpson (* 1980), pop singer and actress
- CJ Thomason (* 1982), actor and model
- Megan Ewing (* 1984), supermodel
- Ryan Guzman (born 1987), actor
- Katie Hill (* 1987), politician
- Ken Baumann (* 1989), actor
- David Boudia (* 1989), water diver and Olympic champion
- Paige McPherson (* 1990), Taekwondoin and winner of the Pan American Games in Guadalajara
Climate table
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Climate diagram | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Monthly average temperatures and rainfall for Abilene, Texas
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See also
Web links
- current daily newspaper from Abilene
- Comprehensive and up-to-date statistics on Abilene from city-data , engl.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Texas Almanac (PDF; 1.2 MB). Retrieved October 4, 2012
- ↑ US Census ( Memento from January 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved October 16, 2012