How Abilene Texas Was Named After Abilene Kansas Our Similarities And Differences

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I recently asked on the station's Facebook page "In your opinion, what’s the best thing about living in Abilene?" While we got some great positive thoughts, we also got some not-so-positive comments like: "Abilene is the Black Hole" or "I'm glad to be out of Abilene" it got me thinking of when I did live in another Abilene, in another state.

I lived in Abilene, Kansas for a very short period, I spotted the huge differences between Texas-Abilene and Kansas-Abilene. I mean, right off the bat the first thing that stuck out in Kansas was the fact that they say soda or pop when we want a Coke, Dr. Pepper, or a soft drink.

Another was our love affair with sweet tea in West Texas. While we sought out the only two places that had sweet tea and that was it, I recall the conversation with the server who was asking us about our fascination with sweet tea. I simply told them it's a Texas thing and it's been like that for years.

Another obvious difference was their love for chili in Kansas, and before we get too far into this. Texas Chili is not the kind of Chili one finds in Kansas. I had to judge the Kansas "Winter Chili Cook-Off" while in Texas we host chili cook-offs outdoors and mostly in the fall.

I was asked to judge a chili cook-off in Kansas in a school's gymnasium in the middle of February. That was alright however some of the chilis had different vegetables in them. One chili that really stuck out and had me scratching my head was a chicken corn chili. Yep, I'm scratching my head again.

While Abilene, Kansas had some obvious cultural differences from Abilene, Texas, I will confess here and now, that the two cities had a lot of similarities. As a matter of fact, we could almost pass for twin cities in my opinion.

For example, both Abilene's are huge into farming and ranching, helping our communities with fundraisers for our nonprofits in our communities. Abilene Kansas has been recognized as #1True Western Town of the Year by True Western Magazine. While Abilene Texas has been recognized as the Storybook Capital of America.

The big difference between Abilene, Texas is huge in comparison to Abilene Kansas as the most recent 2020 census has recently revealed that Abilene Texas has a population of 125,182, making it the 27th most populous city in the Lone Star State. However, Abilene Kansas's population has dropped down to 6,460.

While I could continue on as to our similarities and or our differences between the two cities both are very individually independent. Again, I like to say "I love to live in Abilene and I live to love in Abilene." As for those that answered the Facebook question with comments like "Abilene is a GREAT place to raise a family" I agree and thanks for sharing.