Ed Keeylocko, built Cowtown as a solution to a problem back in the mid-70's....and it evolved over the years into a small western town, with a dirt floor saloon called the Blue Dog which serves the coldest beer in the west, as well as a working ranch, with cows, pigs, chickens and horses. It has been used as a film location, as well as a venue for weddings (among many other things, Ed is an ordained minister), birthdays, bachelor parties, camping events and gunfight competitions. But the best thing about this town, is the man himself! Now 81 years old, he has lived many lives! Born in a rural town in SC during the depression, Ed was abandoned at birth and raised by a foster family. As a small boy of 3, he started listening to western radio shows on a broken transistor radio he fixed up....shows like The Lone Ranger first planted the seeds in his big imagination! At the tender age of 10 years, he traveled north to DC by train, picking up work wherever he could. Living in the kitchen of a chinese restaurant by the wood fire, to taking care of horses while living in the barn on a Pennsylvania farm. Wherever he could, he worked, all the while his imagination grew and so did his dreams. He joined the army at 17, and fought in Korea with the last segregated black unit. His unit was used during atomic bomb testings at Ft Sills, Oklahoma. When he returned to Philadelphia after Korea, there were no jobs available to a young black man that didn't involve picking cotton for someone else, being a butler or a chauffeur. So Ed re-enlisted in the Army and eventually headed for Vietnam. He spent 23 years in the Army, living part of it in Germany and retired in 73. It was then that he fulfilled his earlier boyhood dream to be a rancher. Buying forty acres of land, he began to build his stock, while attending agricultural school at the University of Arizona. Ed was determined to raise cattle that could once again defend themselves against their natural predators, giving them their horns back as nature intended originally! Along the way, there were many racial roadblocks but every time, he found a way around them and with determination on his side, he succeeded. Despite it all, Ed is always ready to extend a warm and hearty greeting to all who come to visit him in Cowtown! Everyone is welcome, no matter what their walk of life has been! And while many at his great age would be thinking of slowing down, Ed is doing the opposite. He is constantly planning new ventures and hopes to travel the world! He encourages the younger generations to expand their horizons and reach for dreams. And always, seek to find the truth in history and let the lessons learned be a guide for your footpath.
