Abilene

• Location: USA

1. Kansas: founded in 1860 and so named by the pious owner of the settlement. She read of the Tetrarch of Abilene in the Gospel according to St Luke 3: 1, and found the name appealing. Abilene, from the Greek meaning 'from around Abila', itself said to mean 'grassy plain', was a region north-west of Damascus in which the Greco-Roman city of Abila Lysaniou was located. Abilene in Kansas was bought and developed by Joseph McCoy, famous as 'the real McCoy', as a railhead for cattle moving up from southern Texas. It is now little more than a village.
2. Texas: founded in 1881, it took its name from the Abilene in Kansas since it was developed for the Texan railhead for cattle drives.

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