They finally raise a glass to the man who made the cowboy an American icon

Glasses of champagne were raised and cake eaten Sunday to celebrate the life of Joseph McCoy.

The Illinois livestock trader was buried more than a century ago in Wichita’s Maple Grove Cemetery and his grave has long been quiet.

But on Sunday, historians, cowboys and musicians came together at his grave near 10th and Hillside to honor the man who had the idea 150 years ago to drive cattle from near San Antonio north through Fort Worth into Oklahoma and then on to Kansas to rail hubs.

The event attracted 45 people from across the state.

“Joseph McCoy died on Oct. 19, 1915 and … he was buried 102 years ago to this date, Oct. 22,” said Jim Gray, director of the National Drovers Hall of Fame in Ellsworth. “This has been a dream of mine. I always felt like Joseph McCoy is the man responsible for much of what is the cowboy and that cattle heritage.”

Indeed, 150 years ago, McCoy had a vision of changing the cattle industry by opening a cattle depot along the new Union Pacific Eastern Division in Abilene.

Although the trail is named after Jesse Chisholm, it was McCoy who found a way to turn the trail into an industry.

After the Civil War, entrepreneurs were looking for an economical way to get Texas cattle to the Eastern markets. And Joseph McCoy was the one who came up with the idea of building stockyards. After being turned down in three other towns, he convinced Abilene business leaders his idea had merit.

He built the stockyards in Abilene and had surveyors measure the most direct route from Wichita to Abilene.

The tiny town of Abilene, then about 12 cabins, welcomed him.

“Within months, he turned a little whistle-stop of Abilene into a major shipping point,” Gray said. “They shipped 35,000 head of cattle that fall. He also is our first historian of the cattle industry. That’s one thing he is often not recognized for. He made the cowboy an American icon.”

McCoy’s idea of using the Chisholm Trail for cattle flourished. The trail carried thousands of cattle from Texas into Kansas cowtowns such as Abilene, Wichita, Newton and Caldwell. In Wichita alone, more than 230,000 head of cattle were shipped out of the city from 1872 to 1876.

Soon other stockyards and railroad hubs were constructed in Newton, Wichita, Ellsworth and Caldwell.

On Sunday, Dave “Zerf” Zerfas, a cowboy singer from Manhattan, sang “Get Along Little Doggies” and “The Old Chisholm Trail” at McCoy’s grave.

Cowboys gathered around the grave as historians spoke.

“I can only imagine what McCoy envisioned when he got (to Abilene) in 1867,” said Michael Hook, director of the Dickinson County Heritage Center in Abilene. “There were times the train wouldn’t even stop in Abilene, it would throw the mailbag on out the window and keep going. We know that with McCoy was met with a lot of rejection — from not just the railroad but government. There were a lot of people that were against this idea.

“Every time we walk through Abilene today, I give McCoy thanks.… The reason we are the town we are today is because of Joseph McCoy.”

James Sherow, history professor at Kansas State University and managing editor at “Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains” also spoke about McCoy. Sherow has a book coming out later this year on McCoy and the Chisholm Trail.

On Sunday, Sherow compiled writings from the turn of the 20th century reflecting on how McCoy was greatly admired by Kansans.

“Joseph McCoy was laid to rest here,” Sherow said. “He gave Texas a practical market and he gave the Northern states and territories a much-wanted supply of cattle. This became Mr. McCoy’s life mission.”

And with that, glasses of champagne were lifted to the man who made it possible 150 years ago.

This story was originally published October 22, 2017 at 6:52 PM with the headline "They finally raise a glass to the man who made the cowboy an American icon."