Books by Robert W. Sledge

In 1940, Abilene, Texas a major army training camp housing 60,000 troops was built, and over the next seventy years, it grew to be home to nearly 120,000 citizens. Population growth carried with it the need for geographic expansion, infrastructure upgrade, and economic diversification, but also unimaginable cultural change.

The Texas Pacific Railroad gave birth to Abilene in 1881. Among several dozen sister communities established along the T&P, the company designated the one at Milepost 407 to be 'the future great city of West Texas'. This book presents a tale of industrious, ambitious people trying to prosper in a place with challenging climate and terrain.