Abilene, Texas by Richardphotos
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Description
Abilene, my Abilene prettiest town I have ever seen. those are words in a song about Abilene.I forgot the singer
Abilene is in the northeast corner of Taylor County. It is situated 1,708 feet above sea level on generally flat terrain. The city is connected east-west by Interstate Highway 20, US Highway 80, and State Highway 36 and north-south by US highways 83, 84, and 277. Reflecting its beginning as a railroad townsite, Abilene is bisected by the Texas and Pacific tracks, which run east-west.
Abilene owes its genesis to the Texas and Pacific and a group of ranchers and land speculators. Before the coming of the railroad, the Abilene area had been sporadically inhabited by nomadic Indians and United States military personnel and later by buffalo hunters and ranchers. By the 1870s the Indians had been driven out, and cattlemen began to graze their herds in the area. Taylor County was organized in 1878, and Buffalo Gap was designated the county seat. When the Texas and Pacific Railway began to push westward in 1880, several ranchers and businessmen-Claiborne W. Merchant, John Merchant, John N. Simpson, John T. Berry, and S. L. Chalk-met with H. C. Whithers, the Texas and Pacific track and townsite locator, and arranged to have the railroad bypass Buffalo Gap. They agreed that the route would traverse the northern part of the county and consequently their own land, and that a new town would be established between Cedar and Big Elm creeks east of Catclaw Creek. C. W. Merchant apparently suggested the name Abilene, after the Kansas cattle town.
After the Texas and Pacific arrived at the site in January 1881 the railroad promoted Abilene as the "Future Great City of West Texas." J. 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. On January 2, 1883, the residents voted to incorporate, and in an election held on October 23, 1883, Abilene became the county seat. By 1890 the city had a population of 3,194; twenty years later the number of residents was 9,204.
http://www.abilenetx.com/About/history.htm
I know these together are not the best match.very hard from a jet at 30,000 feet.individually I think each is alright but zi wanted to show the whole enchilada(Texas slang for the whole thing)
thanks for viewing and any comments
Comments (86)
Richardphotos
at the bottom left corner out of sight is Dyer Air Force base but the landscaping can be seen at the corner of US gov property "Abilene" Song Songwriter Bob Gibson, came up with the 1956 tune, never even laying eyes on Abilene until several months before the city’s centennial in 1981 when he came here with the Kerrville Folk Singers. Gibson said he had neither Abilene, Kansas nor Texas, in mind when he wrote the song. He used the name Abilene, because of the unique sound. He was sitting around singing, “Abilene, Abilene, prettiest town I’ve ever seen”, when he decided, with fellow songwriter, Les Brown, to turn it into a full-fledged song. He said nothing rhymes with Chicago, his home town! Much of the song sums up things true to Abilene: "I sit alone most every night, I watch those trains pull out of sight. Don’t I wish they were carrying me back to Abilene, my Abilene.” Chorus: “Abilene, Abilene, prettiest town I’ve ever seen. Women there don't treat you mean, in Abilene, my Abilene.”
NekhbetSun
I know the song too and thanks for the info :o) ...and the "whole enchilada's" pretty darn cool Richard ! ~ Hugs ~
Bossie_Boots
Really cool and i love that song superb work hugs lou x
carlx
Excellent aerial capture!!!
durleybeachbum
How interesting, Richard! I love all the info, and you worked miracles with the pic. ....However, definitely NOT the prettiest town, eh? I love the slang!
jeroni
otra excelente vista de pajaro bravo
Doriutz
excellent compo :)
NytsMom
Cool pic from so high up. My boyfriend' sister lives in Houston, hie daughter in El Paso as well as his son and new grandchild.
smillinfaces
a grat airview thank you greetings smillinfaces
B_PEACOCK
I like it Richard.Cool shots and nice little history lesson
Elcet
Interesting collage. I am somewhat surprised that the excellent photographer that you are did not try to improve the matching of the various individual pictures. I recognize that it is very difficult because of the big differences of light quality but something can be done however (using Adjustment Layers), especially because there is a significant overlap between the picts and you can ask a progressive outline selection, thus fading from one pict to another. It is true that the picts do not match correctly because the place from which you photographed (i.e. the plane is moving from one pict to another) has changed in between, and this is hard to correct (we cannot hope that the Photomerge function of Photoshop could help in this hard case).
Skydancer917
I loved visiting Abilene when I lived in TX. You've brought back more memories for me! Thank you for sharing all this!
RodolfoCiminelli
Fantastic aerial photos my friend....!!!!
huismus
Beautiful capture! Thanks for the info, very interesting!
tallpindo
I see the airport off to the right. "having the enchies" was a auto board phrase that was rumored to me in the 80s. I tried looking it up and came up with enchidna. The days of Lee Iacocca and the power shift. The tale of Texas railroads is a short one. I can still remember seeing the chairman of TransTexas Airways (TTA) which had gobbled up Continental and Braniff and come out of no where driving out of his mansion in Atlanta, Georgia to answer reporters questions about a bankruptcy filing. It was to be prophetic.
blankfrancine
Impressive shots from 30,000 ft! Thanks for sharing such incredible views,Richard.
CavalierLady
Long, lonely drive that is, out to Abilene and on to Big Spring with not much to look at, but then I guess "prettiest town" is in the eye of the beholder. Very interesting panorama, though, considering what you had to work with... never would have thought to try a pano shot from 30,000 feet, lol.
magnus073
Very cool work Richard and splicing them together so well must have been very difficult. I especially enjoyed the in depth history of Abilene you took time to compile.
claude19
Great work with a great difficulty to have all the town on ONE UNIQUE photography !!! As Space explorers, you have made several shots por ONE BEAUTIFUL result !!!
angelbearzs
that is awesome!!!:)
Thelby
Awesome Stitching this together!!!
auntietk
That's very cool! Personally, I love all the different photos. A smooth pano isn't necessarily the way to go every single time. This is great! We live in different worlds, my friend! Flying into Sea-Tac is a whole different view. :)
Richardphotos
I tried to blend them together but there was too much differences.I gave up after several tries
1010
Excellent aerial shot Richard. Do you fly often?
VDH
Great composition!
Denys234
Excellent collage!!
Maori
Excellent photo series Richard!!!
goldie
you did a really good job piecing the images together...i've tried doing it several times, but always seem to have a little trouble along the edges...thanks for the historical background too--it always enhances a photo...
abuyhia
awesome!
angel_dust
GREAT PHOTO AND IDEA!!