Welcome

Taylor County is in the north central area of Texas with the county seat, Abilene in the northeast corner and named for Abilene, Kansas, the end of the trail for most cattle drives.

In 1858 the Texas legislature established Taylor County, named for Alamo defenders Edward, James, and George Taylor, from lands formerly assigned to Bexar and Travis counties. Taylor County was attached to Travis and Bexar counties for judicial and administrative purposes until 1873, when these responsibilities were assigned to Eastland County. Partly due to the presence of Indians, the area remained largely unsettled.

The county was finally organized in 1878, and Buffalo Gap, a small settlement near the center of the county, became the seat of government. Buffalo Gap was bypassed by the railroad, which was routed instead to pass through the northern part of the county to the site of a new town, to be called Abilene.

Resources

On-Site

Cemeteries Census Records Families History Lookups Photographs Publications Surnames Surrounding Counties

Off-Site

Taylor Archives Other TXGenWeb Counties Portal to Texas History Query Board

Communities, Past and Present

(g) is a ghost town
Abilene
Audra (g)
Blair (g)
Bradshaw
Buffalo Gap
Camp Barkeley (g)
Caps
Coates (g)
Colony Hill (g)
Cozart (g)
Dyess AFB
Elmdale (g)
Guion (g)
Hamby
Happy Valley (g)
Iberis (g)
Impact
Inkum (g)
Lawn
Lytle (g)
Merkel
Mount Moro (g)
Mount Pleasant
Nubia
Ovalo
Potosi
Rogers
Sambo (g)
Shep (g)
Tebo (g)
Trent
Tuscola
Tye
View
Wylie