Every city has a look and feel that informs how people respond to it. Visitors react to the skyline, clean streets, traffic patterns and the like, while its citizens speak of civic pride, heritage, and spirit. This love of place illustrates the passions and values of the society that fosters it. Some economists and thinkers refer to social capital, others cultural capital, when discussing the value added by the appreciation of the history and heritage of a community. The more people know about their hometown, the more they support it, love it, and keep it. The settlement that sprang up along the Texas and Pacific Railroad at milepost 407 is no exception. Here, for the first time, are one hundred of Abilene's landmark buildings telling the history, hopes, and humanity of this city. Readers will not only discover a host of remarkable stories in this book, but they will also find the architectural expressions of a civilization that have made their mark on the West Texas landscape. From humble cottages to the first Hilton Hotel, and from railway depots to an air force base, Abilene's unique contribution to the American story unfolds through the buildings that compose its city scapes. Donald S. Frazier is a professor of history at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas. He also serves as the President and CEO of the McWhiney History Education Group. Robert F. Pace is a former professor of history at McMurry University. Steve Butman, a local Abilene artist, is a San Francisco Art Institute trained freelance photographer specializing in commercial, aerial, and industrial photography.
About the Author: Donald S. Frazier is Professor of History at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas. He is the award-winning author of three books on the Civil War, including Blood and Treasure: Confederate Empire in the Southwest; Cottonclads! The Battle of Galveston and the Defense of the Texas Coast; and Fire in the Cane Field: The Federal Invasion of Louisiana and Texas, January 1861-January 1863. His other work includes serving as co-author of Frontier Texas, Historic Abilene, The Texas You Expect, Abilene Landmarks, as well as general editor of The United States and Mexico at War.In addition to his teaching duties, Frazier has been very involved in a variety of heritage and cultural tourism projects, including consulting on the development of three museums, two research centers, a Mexican War battlefield, work on Civil War and frontier heritage trails in Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana, and work on historical projects in Europe and Mexico. He is the writer and director for the video Our Home, Our Rights: Texas and Texans in the Civil War, a winner of the Mitchell Wilder Award for Excellence in Publications and Media Design from the Texas Association of Museums. Frazier has also been recognized for his work by the Texas Association for Convention and Visitors Bureaus, the Independent Publishers, the Texas Historical Foundation, the Civil War Round Table of Dallas, the Philosophical Society of Texas, Booklist, the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Fort Worth Civil War Round Table, the American Association for State and Local History, the Historical Society of New Mexico, and the Louisiana Historical Association.Frazier lives in Abilene, Texas, with his wife Susan and his daughters, Kay and Sarah.

ROBERT F. PACE is a former professor of history at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas, and co-author of Frontier Texas: History of a Borderland to 1880 (State House Press, 2004).