Abilene ( AB-i-leen) is a city in Taylor and Jones Counties in Texas, United States. Its population was 125,182 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the allow in of Texas. It is the principal city of the Abilene metropolitan statistical area, which had an estimated population of 169,893, as of 2016. Abilene is home to 3 Christian Universities; Abilene Christian University, McMurry Univeristy, and Hardon Simmins University. Abilene is the county chair of Taylor County. Dyess Air Force Base is located upon the west side of the city.

Abilene is located off Interstate 20, between exits 279 upon its western edge and 292 upon the east. It is 150 miles (240 km) west of Fort Worth. The city is looped by I-20 to the north, US 83/84 on the west, and Loop 322 to the east. A railroad divides the city all along the center into north and south. The historic downtown Place is upon the north side of the railroad.

Established by cattlemen as a heap shipping point upon the Texas and Pacific Railway in 1881, the city was named after Abilene, Kansas, the indigenous endpoint for the Chisholm Trail. The T&P had bypassed the town of Buffalo Gap, the county seat at the time. Eventually, a landowner north of Buffalo Gap, Clabe Merchant, known as the father of Abilene, chose the publicize for the further town. According to a Dallas newspaper, about 800 people had already begun camping at the townsite since the lots were sold. The town was laid out by Colonel J. Stoddard Johnson, and the auction of lots began early on March 15, 1881. By the fade away of the first day, 139 lots were sold for a sum of $23,810, and choice 178 lots were sold the next-door day for $27,550.

Abilene was incorporated soon after swine founded in 1881, and residents began to set their sights upon bringing the county seat to Abilene. In a three-to-one vote, they won the county election to reach so. In 1888, the Progressive Committee was formed to attract businesses to the area, and in 1890 renamed itself as the Board of Trade. By 1900, 3,411 people lived in Abilene. In that decade, the Board of Trade distorted its pronounce to the 25,000 Club, in the hope of reaching a population of 25,000 by the neighboring census. By 1910, though, the population had increased forlorn to 9,204. Another intervention was formed, the Young Men’s Booster Club, which became the Abilene Chamber of Commerce in 1914.