The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway…

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway builds a branch line from Neva (three miles west of Strong City) through Abilene, Kansas, to Superior, Nebraska in 1887.

Abilene, had begun as a stage coach stop in 1857, established by Timothy Hersey and named from a passage in the Bible, meaning "city of the plains".

The town had grown quickly when Joseph G. McCoy decided to use the town for the location of his stockyards.

Abilene became the very first "cow town" of the west.

With the railroad pushing west, cattle traders had soon come to use Abilene as the largest stockyards west of Kansas City.

The Chisholm Trail ends in Abilene, bringing in many travelers and making Abilene one of the wildest towns in the west.

Town marshal Tom "Bear River" Smith had initially been successful policing Abilene, often using only his bare hands.

He had survived two assassination attempts during his tenure.

However, he was murdered and decapitated on November 2, 1870.

Smith wounded one of his two attackers during the shootout preceding his death, and both suspects received life in prison for the offense.

He had been replaced by in April 1871 by Wild Bill Hickok, whose time as marshal was short lived.

Hickock had been standing off a crowd during a street brawl when gambler Phil Coe took two shots at Hickock, who returned fire killing Coe, but then accidentally shot his friend and deputy, Mike Williams, who was coming to his aid.

He lost his job two months later in December.

Conrad Lebold, one of the early town developers and bankers from 1869 through 1889, had built in 1880 a residence that the newspapers called the finest house west of Topeka.