Abilene, Texas

Abilene is a city in the US state of Texas. It is the county seat of Taylor County. About 120,000 people live there.^[7]

Abilene, Texas
City
Downtown Abilene
Flag
Nicknames:  "The Key City" "The Friendly Frontier"
Location in the state of Texas
Abilene, Texas Show map of Texas Abilene, Texas Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 32°27′N 99°45′W
Country	United States
State	Texas
Counties	Taylor, Jones
Settled	1881[1]
Incorporated (town)	1881[1]
County seat	1883[1]
Named for	Abilene, Kansas[1]
County seat	Taylor County
Government
• Type	Mayor–council–manager
Area [2]
• City	112.09 sq mi (290.32 km2)
• Land	106.67 sq mi (276.27 km2)
• Water	5.42 sq mi (14.05 km2)
Elevation	1,719 ft (527 m)
Population  (2020)[3]
• City	125,182
• Density	1,157/sq mi (447/km2)
• Metro	170,219
• Demonym	Abilenian
Time zone	UTC−6 (CST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
ZIP codes	79601-08 79697-99[4]
Area code	325
FIPS code	48-01000[5]
GNIS feature ID	1329173[6]
Website	abilenetx.com

History

The city of Abilene was started in 1881. Clabe Merchant named it after a city in Kansas. A lot of people came to live in the city. It soon became very important. Some people called it the 'Future Great City of West Texas.' A US Army base was built there in 1940. The base closed in 1945. After the base closed, it got changed to the Dyess Air Force Base. A lot of people work in the Air Force base today.^[8]

Sports

An American football team called the Abilene Ruff Riders is based in the city. They play their home games in the Taylor County Expo Center. Their colors are black, white and red.