Historical Kansas

Detroit, the rival the board points you to, began as Smoky Hill; Andreas's 1883 history lists it under that name among the first contenders for the county seat and records the 1870 contest that Abilene won. Its post office opened on April 6, 1866 and closed on June 23, 1961. The town stayed small and square, two blocks long and two blocks wide: three north-south streets named Main, Middle and School, three east-west streets named First, Second and Third, all six unpaved. A newspaper called The Detroit Free Press tried to build a circulation there in 1898.

What the plaque says

Historical Kansas Abilene, 20 miles ahead, was a cowtown of major importance in the history of the American West. During 1867-1871 much of the town was a mixture of bawling Longhorn cattle and cowhands up from Texas -- with numerous, more worldly two-legged critters in supporting occupations. Abilene's most respected early lawman was Thomas J. Smith, who was killed by a half-crazed settler in 1870. James B. "Wild Bill" Hickok, city marshal in 1871, contributed to the town's bloody history by engaging rowdy Phil Coe in a blazing gun battle at eight feet. President Dwight D. Eisenhower lived in Abilene from 1891 to 1911. The Eisenhower Home and Museum, the Presidential Library and Chapel, help to make Abilene a major attraction for visitors from all over the world. Thirteen miles west of this marker is an exit for Detroit. This little town was an 1870 county-seat rival of Abilene. The Western News, Detroit's newspaper, bitterly charged that Abilene was run "by Vagabonds, Ruffians, Fancy Women, Rot Gut Whiskey and Gamblers." Apparently the voters liked what was there, for Abilene triumphed! Milford reservoir is five miles north of this marker.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Konza Prairie Biological Station — 16 mi
  Kansas State's research prairie south of Manhattan, named for the Kanza, where every watershed burns on its own schedule and a public nature trail climbs from Kings Creek to the open hills.
• Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home — 19 mi
  The six-room house on Southeast Fourth Street where David and Ida Eisenhower raised six sons, and the library, museum and chapel that grew up around it in south Abilene.
• Flint Hills Discovery Center — 21 mi
  Manhattan's city-run museum of the tallgrass prairie, opened in 2012 at the edge of downtown, and the place to have the Flint Hills explained before driving into them.

More markers nearby

• Fort Riley — 7.5 mi
• First Capitol of Kansas — 8.6 mi
• Fort Riley & Junction City — 15 mi
• Historical Kansas — 15 mi