Abilene. 29th October 2025.
It’s been fun over the last three weeks visiting small museums each showing different aspects of pioneering in Texas. Today Frontier Texas! , an interactive multi- media museum experience, put many of those stories together to give a more complete picture.
The museum first told the history of the area from the prehistoric days through to the time of the Plains Indians. Initially the Apache were the predominant tribe in the area but when the Comanche acquired horses they drove them over to what is now New Mexico. Using hologram “spirit guides” two separate Indian chiefs, one a pacifist and the other a fighter, explained their relationship with the incoming whitemen.
The Indians relied on the bison for everything; food, clothing, shelter and even the bones were used as jewellery.
Millions of the animals roamed through the region. When the railways started to expand westward buffalo hunters employed by the rail company killed buffalo to feed the railways workers.
When it was discovered that buffalo hide made very good leather a major killing spree took place and the herds were decimated. The numbers involved in this slaughter are absolutely staggering; before the Plains Indians acquired horses the bison population was estimated at between 30-60 million, between 1868 and 1881 about 20-30 million were killed in Kansas and Texas alone. By 1889 the number of bison in the USA was only 541!!
Different holograms took us through the history of the Indian wars and the role of the US Calvary. Using tactics that they had utilised in the Civil War the soldiers were quite brutal in their actions with the Indians.
With the bison gone the plains offered a superb grazing opportunity for cattle and so began the large cattle ranches and the long distance cattle drives.
Many a time when I was growing up we played “Rawhide” where on TV a young Clint Eastwood played Rowdy Yates on such a cattle drive. Alongside the law abiding hard working pioneers there were also some who wanted to make a quick buck by unlawful means. Famous outlaws such as Billy the Kid were based in Texas and a hologram of Pat Garrett explained how he tracked the outlaw down and shot him. The city of Abilene was founded in 1881 when the railroad built a station here and the frontier days effectively ended.
It’s amazing to think that my grandfather was born in 1842, and grew up with all this going on across the ocean.
Frontier Texas was a marvellous museum that used modern technology to tell the story of the old west and a brilliant educational resource for school children. Several school parties were in the museum at the same time as us but it didn’t spoil the experience.
The weather today was very windy and so a coat was required before we made the short walk into the downtown area. Abilene is known as the “Storybook Capital of America” and on the streets are a number of statues illustrating various characters from children’s books.
After having a spot of lunch in a Humphrey Bogart themed restaurant we visited the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature. On display was a series of original drawings by Juana Martinez-Neal, a children’s book illustrator. Although I didn’t know the books or the artist previously it was fascinating to see the artwork. An excellent little exhibition.
Abilene was a delightful city, albeit a little windy today, with some terrific museums.
Tomorrow we make our way to Waco.