Taylor County
Abilene, Taylor County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Created 1858. Named for Edward, James and George Taylor, 18, 20, and 22, Tennesseans who came to Texas in 1833 and died at the Alamo, March 6, 1836. Organized 1878, with county seat at Buffalo Gap, through which went the Fort Concho to Fort Belknap stagecoach and longhorns on western trail up to Kansas. County seat was moved to Abilene in 1883. Of the 254 Texas counties, 42 bear Indian, French or Spanish names. 10 honor such colonizers as Stephen F. Austin, "Father of Texas". 12 were named for Washington, Clay and other American patriots. 96 were named for men like the Taylors who fought in the Texas War for Independence (15 dying at the Alamo), signed the Declaration of Independence, or served as statesmen in the Republic of Texas. 23 have the names of frontiersmen and pioneers. 11 honor American statesmen who worked for the annexation of Texas; 10, leaders in Texas since statehood, including jurists, ministers, educators, historians, statesmen; and 36, men prominent in the Confederacy during the Civil War. El Paso and 8 others have geographical names, San Jacinto and Val Verde were named for battles; Live Oak and Orange, for trees; and Mason for a fort. (1964)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Created in 1858, Taylor County honors brothers Edward, James, and George Taylor—Tennesseans aged 18, 20, and 22 who came to Texas in 1833 and died together at the Alamo on March 6, 1836. Organized in 1878 with its first seat at Buffalo Gap, the county saw the Fort Concho–Fort Belknap stagecoach and Kansas-bound longhorn herds pass through before the county seat moved to Abilene in 1883. The marker also surveys how Texas named its 254 counties, most for the heroes of independence, statehood, and the Confederacy.
Why it matters
The county's very name is a memorial to the Alamo's fallen, linking a patch of West Texas ranching country to the sacrifice that founded the Republic.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Taylor County's story starts at the Alamo. In early 1836, during the Texas Revolution, a small garrison held the old mission at San Antonio against the Mexican army under Santa Anna. On March 6, 1836, the Alamo fell and its defenders were killed. Their deaths became a rallying cry, and weeks later Texan forces won independence at San Jacinto.
Two decades later, when Texas was a state and the legislature was carving the western frontier into new counties, it named many of them for heroes of the Revolution. Taylor County was created in 1858, but for years it existed mostly on paper. This was Comanche country and open range, and the county was not formally organized until 1878.
The late 1870s and early 1880s changed West Texas fast. The buffalo herds were destroyed, the Comanche and Kiowa were forced onto reservations, and cattle drives, stage lines and finally railroads pushed in. Taylor County went from frontier to ranching and railroad country in a very few years.
People & events
The county is named for three brothers, Edward, James and George Taylor, Tennesseans who came to Texas in 1833. When the Alamo fell on March 6, 1836, all three died there, at the ages of 18, 20 and 22. They were among the many young men from the United States who had come to Texas seeking land and opportunity and ended up fighting for its independence.
When the county was organized in 1878, its first county seat was Buffalo Gap, a natural pass through the hills. Traffic moved through that gap: a stagecoach line connecting Fort Concho and Fort Belknap, and longhorn cattle headed north on the Western Trail toward the Kansas markets. For a few years, Buffalo Gap stood right where frontier travel crossed.
Then the railroad changed everything. The new town of Abilene grew up along the tracks, and in 1883 the county seat moved there. Buffalo Gap lost its place at the center of things, and Abilene grew into the main city of the region. The 1964 marker also lays out how all 254 Texas counties got their names, a reminder that the map of Texas is itself a kind of history book.
Its place in the American story
The Alamo is one of the most famous episodes in American history, and Taylor County shows how deeply its memory was built into the Texas landscape. By naming counties for its defenders, Texans made sure the story would be repeated every time someone said where they lived. The Taylor brothers, young men with little fame in life, became permanent fixtures on the map.
The county's early years also follow a classic arc of the American West. Military posts, stage routes and cattle trails came first. Then came the railroad, which decided which towns would grow and which would fade. The move of the county seat from Buffalo Gap to railroad-town Abilene played out in many Western counties, where the arrival of the tracks reshaped local power almost overnight.
The marker's survey of Texas county names is a lesson in how Americans remember. Counties honor Native American, Spanish and French names, colonizers, Revolutionary heroes, statesmen, pioneers, Confederate leaders, battles, trees and geography. Taken together, they show what Texans at different times chose to celebrate, and they invite you to think about whom a society decides to honor.
If you visit
Abilene is the largest city in the area and a good base for exploring the county's history. As you travel around, think about how much changed here in a single lifetime, from open range and stagecoaches to a railroad city. The landscape of rolling plains and low hills still gives a sense of the country the cattle drives crossed.
A short drive south brings you to Buffalo Gap, the county's first seat, where you can see the natural pass that made the spot important. Comparing quiet Buffalo Gap with busy Abilene is a vivid lesson in what the railroad meant to Western towns.
If you're traveling through Texas, keep an eye on county names as you cross lines. With this marker in mind, many of them will turn into stories: battles, heroes, pioneers and, here, three young brothers from Tennessee who never saw the West Texas county that carries their name.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Edward Taylor
- · James Taylor
- · George Taylor
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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