Between 1867 and 1871, Abilene was a railhead for a large cattle-raising region extending southwest into Texas. Millions of cattle followed the Chisholm Trail into the cow town's stockyards prior to shipment. The city is still an important shipping point for the surrounding wheat and cattle region. It has feed and flour mills.

One of Abilene's most famous inhabitants was 'Wild Bill' Hickok, who served as Abilene's marshal for a time. Another famous citizen was President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who spend his boyhood there. The Eisenhower Presidential Center includes his old family homestead, a museum, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and his grave. Eisenhower also has a statue in Abilene.

Not far from the Eisenhower Presidential Library is the Greyhound Hall of Fame, which is dedicated to the greyhound breed and greyhound racing. The Abilene and Smoky Valley Railroad is a tourist railroad that runs between Abilene and Enterprise. The Great Plains Theatre was originally built in 1881 as the First Presbyterian Church. It currently houses a theatre and movie theatre.

The Lebold Mansion dates from 1880. It used to be a decorative arts museum, but it closed in 2010 and nowadays it's a private residence. A.B. Seelye House and Museum is a Georgian style mansion that was built in 1905. It is home to the Patent Medicine Museum that is dedicated to Seelye, an advocate of patent medicines. The Heritage Center of Dickinson County houses two museums: the Historical Museum and the Museum of Independent Telephony. The latter depicts the story of C.L. Brown, whose telephone company grew to become T-Mobile.

Old Abilene Town is an open-air museum, where you can see several historic buildings that were moved there from their original locations. The museum was first started in the 1950's.

There are several hotels and restaurants in Abilene. The city is on the Smoky Hill River in central Kansas, some 130 km west from Topeka and 1740 km west from Washington D.C.