Wild West Texas Street

Oct 06, 2023

Abilene's historic Texas Street will be on display Saturday when a model of the street built by Ronnie Phillips (left) and Roger Watt is unveiled. The model will be on display at noon.

The painting of the Longhorn bull on the side of the Bull's Head Saloon that so irritated Marshal Wild Bill Hickok appears back in Abilene on Saturday.

At noon, 48 different models of Texas Street, including a model of the Bull's Head Saloon complete with a modified painting of the bull, will be unveiled at the Dickinson County Heritage Center.

The 1/24 model of the street was built by Ronnie Phillips and Roger Watt with a little help from Jim Krueger.

The street extends all the way from east of the current Dickinson County Court House where the Drover's Cottage was located next to McCoy's Stockyard and west to Mud Creek where the Timothy Hersey cabin was located.

Dickinson County Heritage Society Director Michael Hook estimates that the project cost over $19,000 all of which was donated and paid for by Phillips and Watt.

Visitors can see the model street after the Eisenhower Marathon.

No photographs

"We had very few pictures to go off of to build anything," Watt said.

Hook said there is only one picture available, that of the Drover's Cottage next to the stockyard, taken in 1875.

"What's funny is you will see a photographer right here on First Street and he never thought to go outside and take a picture," Hook said.

The street which had 48 pieces, 45 of which are buildings including 18 saloons, was designed off oral descriptions.

"They said the Alamo Saloon was one of the grandest in town and had the 24/7 orchestra, the billiards table and all these things going on and when you see how big it is, ‘How did they fit all that in there?’" Hook said.

Hook said there were 14 different maps of the street which back then would have been "A" Street but sometimes called Texas Street by the cowboys.

"A lot of them contradicted each other," Hook said of the maps.

He went through a file put together by former Abilene Reflector-Chronicle Editor and Publisher Henry Jameson where a personal account by J.B. Edwards was found.

Edwards lived to be 105 years old and died in 1950 but not before describing scenes from the Wild West.

"He started on the west side of the street and worked his way over to the east side and told us exactly where everything lined up," Hook said. "I went back to our tax rolls which we had since 1873 and we could find if those owners really coincided with what he said it was."

He also went through old newspapers.

Octagon barn

The project started when Phillips built an octagonal barn that was on display at Last Chance Graphics and is now in the museum at the center.

"They asked me if I liked it and I said yes and we put it out on display," Hook said of the barn.

Hook and Phillips discussed making the Texas Street display.

"I called Roger and asked him if he was up for a challenge," Phillips said.

They started on Oct. 17 last year.

The model street is made out of wood, glue and Plexiglas for the windows.

"The number one tool was the pin nailer," Watt said.

Hook said the project went quicker as the two men learned the tricks of building the model.

He said the Drover's Cottage took 41 hours.

"Then it seemed like in no time at all they had the whole street done," Hook said.

"As we went along, things got easier. We found easier ways to get the siding done," Phillip said.

"As you get closer to Mud Creek, the buildings get older and older. They are like log cabins," Hook said.

Phillips and Watt paid for the entire project. Hook said the center will be accepting donations Saturday to help defray the costs.

About the bull

The painting on the Texas Street model has been slightly modified to the one that Phil Coe had on the side of the Bull's Head Saloon. Hickok threatened to burn the saloon to the ground if the offending animal, which showed its masculinity, was not painted over. Hickok and Coe became enemies and in an altercation, Hickok killed Coe near the Alamo Saloon which was at the northeast corner of Cedar Street and First Street.

It was there that Hickok also shot and killed his deputy Mike Williams.

Contact Tim Horan at [email protected].

Texas Street project material costs

• $444 — 12 sheets of 3/8 AC plywood

• $245 — 14 1x10x10 pine

• $216 — Brads and pin nails

• $263 — 32 cans of spray paint

• $80 — 8 quarts of stain

• $36 — 2 gallons of titebond glue

• 60 — 4 bandsaw blades

• $50 — Miscellaneous

$1,394 — Total

The total cost does not include 820 hours of labor, 2,100 miles of travel, shop heating and electricity and tool usage plus signs donated by Last Chance Graphics.

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