City of Killeen

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. You're rolling through Killeen, and this town has a origin story that starts with iron rails and ends with something nobody in 1882 could have predicted. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad was pushing its tracks from Temple to Lampasas in the early 1880s, and somewhere near the midway point, the company put in a switching station.

Nothing fancy. Just a place where trains could do railroad business. But settlements have a way of growing up around exactly that kind of spot, and this one did.

The town that rose there was named Killeen, for Frank P. Killeen, a native of Ireland and a senior official of the rail company. The first train pulled in on May 15, 1882, and that arrival, that single arriving train, marked the beginning of the town.

Now, a brand new town needs people, and Killeen got them from the neighbors. Early residents came rolling in from two nearby pioneer communities, Sugar Loaf, about six miles to the north, and Palo Alto, about three and a half miles to the northeast. The GC&SF Railroad itself sold the town lots, and one of the first structures anybody bothered to build was a wooden community school, which opened in the fall of 1882.

By the following year, Killeen had two gristmills and a cotton gin. The town was running. Cotton, grain, wool, cattle.

That was Killeen's business in those early years, an agricultural center doing what the land around it asked of it. In 1893 the town incorporated, and W.E. Hudson was elected to serve as the first mayor.

Decades rolled on. And then came 1942. That's the year Killeen became the home of Camp Hood, now known as Fort Hood.

Whatever the town was before that moment, the federal installation's growth as a major military base hit Killeen like a second founding. The marker puts it plainly: a dramatic impact, making Killeen one of the fastest growing towns in Texas. One switching station.

One arriving train. One May day in 1882. You'd be amazed what a railroad can set in motion.

What the marker says

When the tracks of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad were extended from Temple to Lampasas in the early 1880s, a switching station was installed near the midway point. The settlement that grew up around the site became the town of Killeen, named for Frank P. Killeen, a native of Ireland and a senior official of the rail company. The first train arrived on May 15, 1882, marking the beginning of the town. Many early residents of Killeen came from the nearby pioneer communities of Sugar Loaf (6 mi. N) and Palo Alto (3.5 mi.NE). Town lots were sold by the GC&SF Railroad and one of the earliest structures built was a wooden community school which opened in the fall of 1882. By the following year Killeen was the site of two gristmills and a cotton gin. The town was incorporated in 1893 and W.E. Hudson was elected to serve as the first mayor. In the early years of Killeen's development, the town was primarily an agricultural center for the production of cotton, grain, wool and cattle. In 1942 it became the home of Camp Hood, now Fort Hood. The federal installation's growth as a major military base has had a dramatic impact on the city, making it one of the fastest growing towns in Texas. (1982)