History :

The Buffalo Gap Historic Village preserves and presents the history and heritage of the Texas frontier.
In ancient days, great herds of buffalo favored this gap in the Callahan Divide, a few miles south of present-day Abilene, and it soon became a favored camping place for native peoples. As settlement approached, U.S. soldiers patrolled and skirmished in the area. Hide hunters and cattlemen arrived in the 1870s. Downtown Buffalo Gap, facing north, in 1910
After the Indians and the buffalo passed into history, settlers came to the gap, drawn to its abundant water and good grazing. A new town called Buffalo Gap arose, the first capital of Taylor County. A county courthouse, a two-story limestone structure combining a courtroom and a jail, was completed in 1879. In the following years, the face of the area changed rapidly. Soon, steel rails criss-crossed the once-wild land, horsepower no longer meant horse-drawn wagons, and motor cars churned up dust once trod by shaggy bison and Indian ponies. The county seat was moved to the new city of Abilene in 1883. Buffalo Gap’s history is described in detail in the Handbook of Texas.