These Kansas towns are some of the best Old West destinations in the U.S., list says
A small town in central Kansas was once again named one of the top “true Western” towns in the United States.
Abilene, a town of more than 6,000 that’s two hours west of Kansas City, took the seventh spot in True West Magazine’s Top 10 True Western Towns of the Year list. The town had been ranked No. 8 in 2023 and was also featured in the top 10 in 2022.
“Abilene is synonymous with the Wild West, and we are proud to preserve and promote that legacy to visitors from around the world,” Julie Roller Weeks, director of the Abilene Convention and Visitors Bureau, said in a statement. “This award celebrates not only Abilene’s storied history as the original Cowtown but also our ongoing efforts to create new experiences, like the Kansas Gunsmoke Trail, that honor our Western roots.”
The list can be found in the magazine’s January/February 2025 edition. True West Magazine also named the town the “Best Town for Historic Entertainment” and “Best Old West Town to Live In.”
Some of the attractions True Western Magazine highlighted that visitors can see in Abilene include:
- Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad, the official state heritage railroad
- Dickinson County Heritage Center, featuring exhibits about Wild Bill Hickok and Tom “Bear River” Smith
Kansas Gunsmoke Trail, a road trip that connects visitors to the four cities featured in the Emmy award-winning Western television series “Gunsmoke”
- Old Abilene Town, where visitors can see reenactments and replica buildings along the Chisholm Trail
- Western-themed art like the Cowboy Boot Art Trail and landmarks like the World’s Largest Belt Buckle and Big Spur
- Wild Bill Hickok PRCA Rodeo
Dodge Cityalso made the top 10, coming in at No. 9.
“Cattle, cowboys and railroads made Dodge City, Kansas, famous in the late 1870s,” True West Magazine said. “Like its sister Kansas cowtown to the east, Abilene, Dodge City earned national notoriety as a wide-open wicked cattle town beginning in 1875, when the railhead opened for Texas cattlemen’s herds to be driven up to the new ‘Queen of the Cowtowns.’”
Top 10 Western towns in the United States
Here are the rest of the top 10 Western towns in the United States, according to True West Magazine:
- No. 1: Deadwood, South Dakota
- No. 2: San Angelo, Texas
- No. 3: Prescott, Arizona
- No. 4: Cody, Wyoming
- No. 5: Tombstone, Arizona
- No. 6: Sheridan, Wyoming
- No. 8: Bandera, Texas
- No. 10: Grapevine, Texas
