<P> For millennia, the land now known as Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans . In 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase . In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state . </P> <P> In 1857, Dickinson County was founded . Abilene began as a stage coach stop in the same year, established by Timothy Hersey and named Mud Creek . It wasn't until 1860 that it was named Abilene, from a passage in the Bible (Luke 3: 1), meaning "city of the plains". </P> <P> In 1867, the Kansas Pacific Railway (Union Pacific) pushed westward through Abilene . In the same year, Joseph G. McCoy purchased 250 acres of land north and east of Abilene, on which he built a hotel, the Drover's Cottage, stockyards equipped for 2,000 heads of cattle, and a stable for their horses . The Kansas Pacific put in a switch at Abilene that enabled the cattle cars to be loaded and sent on to their destinations . The first twenty carloads left September 5, 1867, en route to Chicago, Illinois, where McCoy was familiar with the market . The town grew quickly and became the very first "cow town" of the west . </P> <P> McCoy encouraged Texas cattlemen to drive their herds to his stockyards . From 1867 to 1871, the Chisholm Trail ended in Abilene, bringing in many travelers and making Abilene one of the wildest towns in the west . The stockyards shipped 35,000 head in 1867 and became the largest stockyards west of Kansas City, Kansas . In 1871, more than 5,000 cowboys herded from 600,000 to 700,000 cows to Abilene and other Kansas railheads . Another source reports 440,200 head of cattle were shipped out of Abilene from 1867 to 1871 . As railroads were built further south, the end of the Chisholm Trail was slowly moved south towards Caldwell, while as Kansas homesteaders moved the trail west towards and past Ellsworth . </P>

Who set up the first stockyard for texas cattle in abilene kansas