The Village
The West Texas Frontier – preserved
Nestled in the live oak trees of Buffalo Gap, just 20 minutes south of downtown Abilene, is an authentic West Texas frontier village. Not a replica, but actual buildings surrounding the original Taylor County Courthouse that represent the last 50 years of the West Texas Frontier, roughly 1875 – 1925.
The buildings in the Buffalo Gap Historic Village are an educational and fascinating mix. They include a log cabin which is the oldest structure in Taylor County, the first house in the County built with lumber, a two-room schoolhouse, an actual train depot, a filling station, bank, doctor’s office, barbershop, print shop, chapel and others that were moved from their original West Texas locations to showcase how the frontier developed over time.
Each building is filled with furniture and artifacts to help visitors today visualize and experience life in an earlier time.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the more iconic facilities.
What you can find here
More than 15 historic frontier buildings
A rich collection of period artifacts and frontier firearms
Gallery with historic maps and area artwork
Picnic areas and modern restrooms
Rental facilities include an historic chapel for wedding and funerals; meeting rooms; and an 1879 guest house, authentically restored and furnished and available for rent on Airbnb
1870s – 1890s
Taylor County Courthouse and Jail
This is the County’s original courthouse in its original location, and the building that spurred the development of this Village. The $8,000 building was completed in 1880 and served as the Taylor County Courthouse for three years until the county seat moved to Abilene. The small room downstairs was the office of the Judge and County Clerk, and the large room held County Commissioner meetings and trials. The smaller cell at the top of the stairs was reserved for dangerous or violent criminals while the larger one -- often called the Drunk Tank -- had enough beds to hold 12 prisoners.
Hill House
Tom Hill built this house at the corner of North 5th and Orange St. in Abilene when he became the first Marshall in 1882. It is the first lumber-construction house in the county and is an example of the common architecture of this region. After Tom married and had children, he added the right-side rooms to the house in 1885, almost doubling the space. The Hill House is the oldest remaining residence in Taylor County.
Knight-Sayles Cabin
This single-room, 186-sq.-ft. log cabin, constructed in 1875 where Lake Abilene is today, is the oldest structure in Taylor County today. Originally two logs higher, a bottom log was lost each time the cabin moved to a new location. It had a fireplace but the chimney was removed when the cabin moved. Children slept in the upstairs loft and used pegs in the wall to climb up to their beds.
Blacksmith Shop
Brothers Pete and Joseph Joeris ran a blacksmith shop at 140 Sycamore St. in Abilene for about 50 years. The branding irons were often tested on the main wooden doors, which are still on display inside the shop. The doors are the only original pieces remaining in this shop, as most of it burned down before the mid-1900s.
1900s – 1920s
Doctor’s Office
Originally built as a residence in 1902, the Village uses this building to represent the tradition of doctors working from home – rather than an office – in the early 20th Century. The building is in its original location. Dr. R. Lee Rode purchased the building in the 1970s when he retired from active practice and donated it to the museum along with many historical medical tools he collected over the year.
Barbershop
This building, built circa 1905, was originally an exhibit building in Abilene, and was purchased at a public auction in 1982 to serve as a barbershop in the Historic Village.
Train Depot
Built in Clyde, Tx, in 1910, this depot was originally 130’ long and stood in the right-of-way of the Texas Pacific Railroad. It replaced a boxcar which had served as the town depot since 1880. A ticket office and telegraph equipment were enclosed behind metal bars, and the building held the first telephone exchange in Callhan County. A General Store (now the Village Gift Shop) was part of the depot and later used to store luggage, crates, and cargo. (The entire building was too large to fit the original grounds of the Village, and was thus separated into two.) You can see the second luggage room in the depot specifically for smaller luggage. It featured separate waiting rooms as mandated by the Jim Crow laws in Texas, which enforced racial segregation.
Post Office
Buffalo Gap established the first official post office registered in Taylor County in 1877. This building is not it! There were multiple post offices in early Buffalo Gap, often moving with the changing of the Postmaster. Records show one in a drug store and another in a hotel This building was the first free-standing post office in Buffalo Gap and stood in Postmaster Charlie McDonald’s front yard on Main Street, just a few blocks from where it is now. The post office boxes and teller’s window came out of the post office in the drug store; one set of boxes are from the original post office in 1878.
Buffalo Gap Chapel
This “Sweet Church” – so nicknamed due to the honeybees in its walls for more than 80 years – was built in 1902 at the corner of Oak and Mulberry streets in Buffalo Gap, just five blocks from the Village. Its congregation was founded by Reverent Mary Lee Cagle in 1898 under the denomination of the New Testament Church of Christ. It later merged with the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarenes. It was moved to the Village in 1977 and completely restored; it was renovated again in 2014 to its original glory. It remains available for weddings and funerals.
Schoolhouse
This two-room Cottonwood Flat Schoolhouse was built in 1908 about 25 miles north of Snyder, TX, on flat land near Rough Creek. Students from grades 1 to 7 attended this school to learn penmanship, spelling, reading, mathematics, and history. In 1939 they were transferred to a school in Fisher County and the building was used for elections and community events. It was moved to the Cottonwood Flat Cemetery for funerals before being donated to the Village in 1989.
Gas Station
The Magnolia Petroleum Service Station was built in 1922 at the corner of Main and McAdoo in Winters, TX. Originally this “drive-in filling station” – later known as “service stations” -- had a ladies room and living quarters. The back of this current building is covered in tin and it’s unknown when the living quarters were removed. In 1943, a new owner converted the station to the Texaco brand. Eventually the building was used for a used car lot, a gin weight station, and then a grocery store. The store was moved to the Buffalo Gap Historic Village in 1989.
Buffalo Gap Bank
The Buffalo Gap Banking Company opened in 1918 after a predecessor bank failed. However, it closed in 1923 and its rich furnishings transferred to a new bank in Bradshaw. They were returned to the Buffalo Gap Historic Village in 1982 and remain on display here. All fixtures, furniture, and the teller cage are from the original Banking Company. You can still see ANB carved into the stone in front of the bank; it is from the original Abilene National Bank.
Print Shop
The main press in this building printed the Country Campbell Newspaper and The Clyde Enterprise for 45 years before being put into commercial use. It was supplemented by the Linotype Model 15 in 1910 which was used for printing advertising circulars, year books, and other materials in addition to daily or weekly newspapers. The Miller Hi-Speed Automatic was added in 1955: it could print 4,000 copies an hour. All these machines continued to be in service until 1985 when the owner, Mack Wilson, donated them to the Village.
Wagon Barn
One of few reproductions at the Village, this 1980s building uses many materials from the original 1880s wagon barn on site and contains many of the same items. It includes a 1917 electric start Model T Jitney, along with a much earlier genuine narrow-gauge, mountain chuck wagon. These wagons were typically drawn by mules or oxen over rough terrain and were the forerunner to today’s 18-wheeler, delivering goods and materials. It also houses a single-horse surrey (sorry, no fringe on top). These carriages were often called depot hacks – early taxicabs - because they typically took people short distances in the 1880s. The exhibit discusses the Great Depression and people’s tendency to save everything in their barns – even broken tools – because they never knew what they might be able to salvage. This barn has old washing machines and early cooking utensils.
Bonus features to see outside the grounds
Reddell House
Catercorner from the Village is the oldest house in Taylor County still in its original location. Built in 1879, this house has been lovingly restored to showcase its original wooden floors, high ceilings, old-style furnishings, and narrow staircase. This four-bedroom / two-bathroom home is available to rent on AirBnB as the “Historic Reddell Guesthouse in Buffalo Gap.” Click here for booking information. (Please note: since the home may be occupied, it is not available to tour but you can see pictures of its interior through its online listing.)
Buffalo Corner
The life-sized stone buffalo sculpture in the northeast corner of the Village (seen from outside the property) is a tribute to the buffalo roaming freely in this area in the mid-1800s. Abilene petroleum geologist Glen Thomas created the art with a hammer and chisel; it took two years to complete. He chiseled multiple different textures in the stone to create the various layers of buffalo hair and hooves. The sculpture was completed and unveiled in 1990.