Queen Of The Kansas Cowtowns

Abilene, Kansas, celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Chisholm Trail.

- Leo W. Banks

Dwight Eisenhower enjoyed sitting on his porch listening to old men tell stories about a famous town marshal they knew named Wild Bill Hickok. As a boy in Abilene, young Ike couldn’t get enough of the Old West. Even as he fought in America’s great conflicts, Eisenhower relaxed by reading dime-store Westerns, a lifelong hobby.

From the great Texas cattle drives to John Wesley Hardin, from Wild Bill to our 34th President, Abilene holds fast to its rich history.

At the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, visitors can see a neat photo of Ike, in uniform, reading one of those gun smoke fables as he sat in a tent in Europe during World War I.

He took his children to the Abilene Cemetery to see the grave of his hero, the first city marshal, Tom “Bear River” Smith, who served before Hickok. Smith was killed in 1870, but did much to tame a town overrun by Texas drovers fresh off the Chisholm Trail.

Today, a plaque atop Bear River’s grave contains a classic line by the mayor who hired him: Smith died as a martyr for the Old West.