Killeen

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.HistoryIn 1881, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway extended its tracks through central Texas, buying 360acre 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.