![]() Its population increased from about 1,300 in 1949 to 7,045 in 1950, and between 19, about 100 new commercial buildings were constructed in Killeen. Killeen then suffered a recession when Camp Hood was all but abandoned after the end of the Second World War, but when Southern congressmen got it established in 1950 as a permanent army post, the city boomed again. New businesses were started to provide services for the military camp. The loss of more than 300 farms and ranches led to the demise of Killeen's cotton gins and other farm-related businesses. The opening of Camp Hood radically altered the nature of the local economy, since the sprawling new military post covered almost half of Killeen's farming trade area. Laborers, construction workers, contractors, soldiers, and their families moved into the area by the thousands, and Killeen became a military boomtown. In 1942, Camp Hood (recommissioned as Fort Hood in 1950) was created as a military training post to meet war demands. The buildup associated with World War II changed that dramatically. Until the 1940s, Killeen remained a relatively small and isolated farm trade center. A public water system began operation in 1914 and its population had increased to 1,300 residents. By 1900, its population was about 780.Īround 1905, local politicians and businessmen convinced the Texas legislature to build bridges over Cowhouse Creek and other streams, doubling Killeen's trade area. Killeen expanded as it became an important shipping point for cotton, wool, and grain in western Bell and eastern Coryell Counties. 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. Many of the residents of the surrounding smaller communities in the area moved to Killeen. By the next year, the town included a railroad depot, a saloon, several stores, and a school. Killeen, the assistant general manager of the railroad. The railroad platted a 70-block town on its land and named it after Frank P. In 1881, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway extended its tracks through central Texas, buying 360 acres (1.5 km 2) a few miles southwest of a small farming community known as Palo Alto, which had existed since about 1872. It is known as a military "boom town" because of its rapid growth and high influx of soldiers. Its economy depends on the activities of the post, and the soldiers and their families stationed there. Killeen is directly adjacent to the main cantonment of Fort Hood. Killeen is 55 miles (89 km) north of Austin, 125 miles (201 km) southwest of Dallas, and 125 miles (201 km) northeast of San Antonio. It is the principal city of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to the 2020 census, its population was 153,095, making it the 19th-most populous city in Texas and the largest of the three principal cities of Bell County. Killeen is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States.
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