page_title: Dickinson County, Kansas
section_title: Notable people
hierarchical_section_title: Dickinson County, Kansas / Notable people
caption_attribution_description: Wild Bill Hickok
context_page_description: Dickinson County is a county in Central Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 19,754. Its county seat and most populous city is Abilene. The county was named in honor of Daniel S. Dickinson.
context_section_description: Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was born in Texas but moved to Abilene at an early age and considered Abilene home. He was the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. Prior to that he was a five-star general in the United States Army. During World War II, as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe; he planned and supervised the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45, from the Western Front. In 1951, he became the first supreme commander of NATO.  The Eisenhower Library (see above) is in Abilene.
  Joe Engle is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and a former NASA astronaut. Engle helped to flight test the joint NASA-Air Force X-15 rocket airplane. During testing, Engle earned his USAF astronaut wings, a Distinguished Flying Cross and other awards. He was one of the first astronauts in the Space Shuttle program and flight tested the Space Shuttle Enterprise in 1977. He was commander of the second orbital test flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1981. Engle was born and raised in Chapman.
  Several figures from the American Old West spent time in the county. Folk hero James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, gunfighter John Wesley Hardin, and dance hall girl/prostitute Libby Thompson all made their mark in Abilene when it was in its wild cattle-town days.
  US Army Chaplains John H. Eastwood and Emil Kapaun were stationed at Herington Army Airfield for part of their tour of duty during World War II.
  Pop Hollinger pioneered the industry of comic book collecting and also managed to secure several patents. He grew up in Chapman.
caption: On April 15, 1871, Wild Bill Hickok became marshal of Abilene after its previous marshal was shot and killed.
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