Killeen, Texas
| Killeen, Texas | |
|---|---|
| City | |
| City of Killeen | |
| Nickname(s): "K-Town" aka "The K" | |
| Motto: "Where freedom grows" | |
 Location of Killeen, Texas |
|
| Coordinates: 31°6′20″N 97°43′36″W / 31.10556°N 97.72667°WCoordinates: 31°6′20″N 97°43′36″W / 31.10556°N 97.72667°W | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |
 Texas
|
| County | Bell |
| Government | |
| • Type | Council-Manager |
| • City Council |
Mayor Jose Segarra Mayor Pro Tem Brockley Moore Jonathan Okray Gregory Johnson Juan Rivera Jim Kilpatrick Shirley Fleming |
| • City Manager | Ron Olson |
| Area | |
| • Total | 54.2 sq mi (140.5 km2) |
| • Land | 53.6 sq mi (138.8 km2) |
| • Water | 0.7 sq mi (1.7 km2) |
| Elevation | 890 ft (270 m) |
| Population (2015 est.) | |
| • Total | 140,806 |
| • Density | 2,600/sq mi (1,000/km2) |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP codes | 76540-76549 |
| Area code(s) | 254 |
| FIPS code | 48-39148 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1360642 |
| Website | www |
Killeen is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. According to the recent populations estimates, its population was 140,806, making it the 21st most populous city in Texas. It is the principal city of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Killeen is directly adjacent to the main cantonment of Fort Hood, and as such its economy heavily depends on the post and the soldiers (and their families) stationed there. Elvis Presley was stationed there.
In 1881, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway extended its tracks through central Texas, buying 360 acres (1.5 km2) a few miles southwest of a small farming community known as Palo Alto, which had existed since about 1872. The railroad platted a 70-block town on its land and named it after Frank P. Killeen, the assistant general manager of the railroad. By the next year the town included a railroad depot, a saloon, several stores, and a school. Many of the residents of the surrounding smaller communities in the area moved to Killeen, and by 1884 the town had grown to include about 350 people, served by five general stores, two gristmills, two cotton gins, two saloons, a lumberyard, a blacksmith shop, and a hotel. Killeen expanded as it became an important shipping point for cotton, wool, and grain in western Bell and eastern Coryell counties. About 780 people lived in Killeen by 1900. Around 1905, local politicians and businessmen convinced the Texas legislature to build bridges over Cowhouse Creek and other streams, doubling Killeen's trade area. A public water system began operation in 1914 and its population had increased to 1,300 residents.
Until the 1940s Killeen remained a relatively small and isolated farm trade center, but this changed drastically after 1942, when Camp Hood (re-commissioned as Fort Hood in 1950) was created as a military training post to meet the demands of the Second World War. Laborers, construction workers, contractors, soldiers, and their families moved into the area by the thousands, and Killeen became a military boomtown. The opening of Camp Hood also radically altered the nature of the local economy, since the sprawling new military post covered almost half of Killeen's farming trade area. The loss of more than 300 farms and ranches led to the demise of Killeen's cotton gins and other farm-related businesses. New businesses were started to provide services for the military camp. Killeen suffered a recession when Camp Hood was all but abandoned after the end of the Second World War, but when Fort Hood was established as a permanent army post in 1950, the city boomed again. Its population increased from about 1,300 in 1949 to 7,045 in 1950, and between 1950 and 1951 about 100 new commercial buildings were constructed in Killeen.
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