Abilene became the first major cattle trail town of Kansas after the Civil War, when millions of Longhorn cattle were stranded on Texas ranges and beef-hungry Northerners created a demand to move them to market. After the westward-building Union Pacific railroad reached Abilene in March, 1867, Joseph G. McCoy of Illinois chose the town as a cattle-shipping center, built stockyards, and urged Texas cattlemen to drive their herds up the Chisholm trading trail to the site of present Wichita and then along McCoy's extension to Abilene. From 1867 to 1871, more than a million cattle were trailed there, and for a time in 1871 James B. "Wild Bill" Hickok served as marshal. The bustle of cowboys, saloonkeepers, gamblers, and dancehall girls eventually gave way when permanent residents forced the cattle-trade market to move elsewhere. Abilene was also the boyhood home of President Dwight David Eisenhower from 1891 to 1911, and the Eisenhower Home, Museum, Library and Chapel helped make it one of Kansas' most interesting cities.