Why did Joseph McCoy create the cow town of Abilene?
In the westward zone of Kansas, Abilene served as a transit point for cowboys and their herds. In 1867, Joseph McCoy created the cow town Abilene. In the westward zone of Kansas, Abilene served as a transit point for cowboys and their herds. Abilene was the ideal location for several reasons.
How did McCoy expand his ranching business?
The venture sufficiently established him that he was able to propose to Sarah Epler, a neighbor. The earnings from the Kentucky sale allowed McCoy to expand both the diversity and the national reach of his livestock dealings. In the 1860s, cattle ranchers in Texas faced difficulties getting their longhorn cattle to market.
What is Joseph McCoy best known for?
Joseph McCoy. Jump to navigation Jump to search. Joseph "Cowboy" McCoy (December 21, 1837 – October 19, 1915) was a 19th-century entrepreneur famous for promoting the transport of Longhorn cattle from Texas to the eastern United States.
How many cowboys lived in Abilene in 1871?
By 1871 the number had increased to 600,000 or more and as many as 5,000 cowboys were being paid off during a single day. Abilene soon became known as a rough town in the Old West. McCoy lived in Abilene, where he was elected mayor in April 1871.
How did McCoy develop Abilene?
In mid June 1867, McCoy negotiated an agreement with the local farmers, and convinced Samuel Crawford, Governor of Kansas, to allow Texas cattle within the quarantine lines. Within a month, he had started the construction of loading pens in Abilene.
What did Joseph McCoy build in Abilene?
McCoy built a hotel, stockyard, office and bank in a little village along the Kansas Pacific Railway (currently the Union Pacific). This village became known as Abilene, Kansas - one of the first cow towns.
Who set up the cow town of Abilene?
J. G. McCoy[18] J. G. McCoy bought a location east of the original townsite of Abilene for the location of his Drovers Cottage and the Great Western stockyards.
What was the name of the town that Joseph McCoy built as a loading point for cattle?
McCoy purchased a 250-acre tract at the edge of a frontier village along the Union Pacific. There he built a pen to handle a thousand head of cattle, a hotel known as the Drover's Cottage, a bank, office, and livery stable This village became known as Abilene, Kansas - one of the first cow towns.
What is Abilene KS known for?
Abilene is known at the Greyhound Capital of the World. The National Greyhound Association headquarters are located west of the city. The Greyhound Hall of Fame tells the story of the greyhound canine and the racing industry.
What was Abilene?
In the westward zone of Kansas, Abilene served as a transit point for cowboys and their herds. In 1867, Joseph McCoy created the cow town Abilene. In the westward zone of Kansas, Abilene served as a transit point for cowboys and their herds. Abilene was the ideal location for several reasons.
Who founded Abilene Texas?
Stoddard Johnston and other railroad officials platted the townsite. Several hundred people arrived in Abilene before the sale of town lots and began to establish businesses and a church. The lots were auctioned on March 15, 1881; in two days buyers purchased more than 300 lots, and Abilene was officially established.
Who founded Abilene Kansas?
Timothy and Elizabeth HerseyAbilene, KS was founded in 1857 when Timothy and Elizabeth Hersey settled in a dugout on the west bank of Mud Creek. Mrs. Hersey named the new town “Abilene” after a bible verse, Luke 3:1, which described a region in Galilea.
Where was the first Cowtown built?
The event began as a livestock show in 1896 in a field along Marine Creek. It was moved indoors in 1908 to the newly built Northside Coliseum. The arena, now called Cowtown Coliseum, is still operating in the Stockyards area.
When was the first cattle drive to Abilene?
August 1867The first cattle drive reached Abilene in August 1867. On September 5, 1867, the first load of cattle were shipped via rail from Kansas. The trail would eventually be called the Chisholm Trail.
Who was the first woman to drive cattle to Abilene Kansas?
Hattie Cluck is believed to be the first woman to ever travel on the Chisholm Trail. While pregnant, she rode in a wagon with her two young children. A story recalling her time spent on the trail says that Harriet crossed a flooding Red River on horseback as the wagons were floated across the river.
Why did the Chisholm Trail End in Abilene Kansas?
From 1867 to 1871, the trail ended in Abilene, Kansas, but as railroads incrementally built southward, the end of the trail moved to other cities.
When did Joseph McCoy die?
Joseph McCoy died in Kansas City, Missouri on October 19, 1915. One story about the cattle baron alleges that McCoy bragged before leaving Chicago that he would bring 200,000 head in 10 years and actually brought two million head in four years, which led to the phrase “ It’s the Real McCoy .”.
Why did McCoy advertise in Texas?
McCoy advertised extensively throughout Texas to encourage cattle owners to drive their cattle to market in Abilene. By 1868, about 75,000 cattle were shipped from Abilene. In 1870 thousands of Texas longhorn cattle, which were ideal for cattle trails due to their long legs and hard hoofs, were being driven to the shipping center at Abilene.
What was the name of the hotel that McCoy built along the Union Pacific Railroad?
Some people sneered at his ideas, but he demonstrated their practicability. McCoy also built a hotel called the Drover’s Cottage, a stockyard, office, and bank in the little village along the Union Pacific Railroad that would serve as the shipping point. Driving Cattle.
Where did Hickok spend most of his time?
It would seem that this was a good choice to tame the lawless town; however, Hickok spent most of his time in the Alamo Saloon, the center of the town’s wildlife, and was not too friendly with the “upstanding” folks of Abilene.
Overview
Transporting cattle
In the 1860s, cattle ranchers in Texas faced difficulties getting their longhorn cattle to market. Kansas homesteaders objected to the cattle crossing their land because the cattle might carry ticks which could spread a disease called Texas Fever (or Spanish Fever) fatal to some types of cattle. The disease could make a Longhorn sick, but they were hardier stock than the northern cattle and Longh…
Early life
Joseph Getting McCoy was one of eleven children born to Mary (née Kirkpatrick) and David McCoy. He was born on 21 December 1837 in Sangamon County, Illinois. The McCoy family were farmers. Joseph went to school, including one year at Knox College. He went into business as a stockman, breeding and selling mules. A big financial break came for McCoy in 1861 when he sold a stockcar-load of mules in Kentucky. Delivery requiring transport over five different rail lines…
Later life
McCoy was also the author of Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade of the West and Southwest, which was published in 1874.
Joseph McCoy died in Kansas City, Missouri on October 19, 1915.
In 1967, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
Bibliography
• Hoy, Jim (2006). "Joseph G. McCoy and the Creation of the Mythic American West". In Dean, Virgil W. (ed.). John Brown to Bob Dole: Movers and Shakers in Kansas History. Lawrence, Kans.: University Press of Kansas. pp. 71–80. ISBN 0-7006-1429-X. OCLC 61278474.
• Knowlton, Christopher (2017). Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-544-36996-2.
External links
• Joseph McCoy at Find a Grave