Abilene Chamber of Commerce

The Abilene, Texas Chamber of Commerce was organized in 1890 as the Abilene, Texas Board of Trade. Over the years, it collected materials on Camp Barkeley and Dyess Air Base near Abilene. Camp Barkeley, established near Abilene in December 1940, was in operation until March 1945. It was named after David D. Barkeley, who was killed in the Meuse- Argonne Campaign in World War I. Abilene Army Air Base was in operation during World War II and closed in 1947 but reactivated as Abilene Air Base, a strageic air command installation, following the outbreak of the Korean War. Dedicated in April 1956, it was renamed in honor of William Edwin Dyess, a World War II hero who died in a plane crash in Dec. 1943.