Killeen, Texas

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. 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. By 1900, its population was about 780.

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. The buildup associated with World War II changed that dramatically. In 1942, Camp Hood (recommissioned as Fort Hood in 1950) was created as a military training post to meet war demands. 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 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 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. 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.

In addition to shaping local economic development after 1950, the military presence at Fort Hood also changed the city's racial, religious, and ethnic composition. No blacks lived in the city in 1950, for example. By the early 1950s, Marlboro Heights, an all-black subdivision, had been developed. In 1956, the city school board voted to integrate the local high school. The city's first resident Catholic priest was assigned to the St. Joseph's parish in 1954, and around the same time, new Presbyterian and Episcopal churches were built.

By 1955, Killeen had an estimated 21,076 residents and 224 businesses. Troop cutbacks and transfers in the mid-1950s led to another recession in Killeen, which lasted until 1959, when various divisions were reassigned to Fort Hood. The town continued to grow through the 1960s, especially after US involvement deepened in the Vietnam War and demand for troops kept rising.

By 1970, Killeen had developed into a city of 35,507 inhabitants and had added a municipal airport, a new municipal library, and a junior college (Central Texas College). By 1980, when the census counted 49,307 people in Killeen, it was the largest city in Bell County.

After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in the late summer of 1990, the city prepared for war, sending thousands of troops from the 2nd Armored Division and the 1st Cavalry Division to the Middle East.

On October 16, 1991, George Hennard murdered 23 people and then committed suicide at the Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen.

In December 1991, one of Killeen's high school football teams, the Killeen Kangaroos, won the 5-A Division I state football championship by defeating Sugar Land Dulles 14–10 in the Astrodome.

By 2000, the census listed Killeen's population as 86,911, and by 2010, it was over 127,000, making it one of the fastest-growing areas in the nation.[6]

Numerous military personnel from Killeen have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As of April 2008, more than 400 of its soldiers had died in the two wars.[7]

On November 5, 2009, only a few miles from the site of the Luby's massacre, a gunman opened fire on people at the Fort Hood military base with a handgun, killing 13 and wounding 32. Major Nidal Hasan, a career officer and psychiatrist, sustained four gunshot wounds after a brief shootout with a civilian police officer. He suffered paralysis from the waist down. He was arrested and convicted by a court-martial, where he was sentenced to death.

In 2011, Killeen got media attention from a new television series called Surprise Homecoming, hosted by Billy Ray Cyrus, about military families who have loved ones returning home from overseas.

On April 2, 2014, a second shooting spree occurred at several locations at Fort Hood. Ivan Lopez, a career soldier, killed three people and wounded 16 others before committing suicide.[8][9]

Killeen is located in western Bell County at 31°6′20″N 97°43′36″W (31.105591, −97.726586).[10] It is bordered to the north by Fort Cavazos and to the east by Harker Heights. Killeen is 16 miles (26 km) west of Belton, the county seat and nearest access to Interstate 35.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 54.2 square miles (140.5 km²), of which 53.6 square miles (138.8 km²) is land and 0.66 square miles (1.7 km²), or 1.24%, is covered by water.[11]

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 153,095 people, 54,840 households, and 36,735 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,458.9 inhabitants per square mile (949.4/km²). There were 53,913 housing units at an average density of 999.9 per square mile (386.1/km²).

Among the Hispanic population in 2010, 16,321 (12.8%) were of Mexican descent, 8,117 (6.3%) were of Puerto Rican descent, with a sizable population of Central Americans at 1,758 (1.4%).[17]

There were 54,840 households, out of which 40.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.1% were married couples living together, 17.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.8% were non-families. 24.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.17.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 33.2% under the age of 20, 38.7% from 20 to 39, 22.8% from 40 to 64, and 5.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27 years.

The median income for a household in the city was $44,370, and the median income for a family was $36,674. The per capita income for the city was $20,095, compared to the national per capita of $39,997. About 11.2% of families and 16.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.5% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over.

In 2007, Coldwell Banker rated Killeen the most affordable housing market in the United States, with an average cost of $136,725.[18]

According to the city's 2021 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report,[19] the top employers in the city are:

Killeen Mall serves as the city's main shopping destination, and one of two regional shopping malls in Bell County.

The adoption of the City Charter in 1949 established the council-manager form of government under which the City of Killeen still operates today. The mayor is the city's chief elected officer, but he has no administrative power. He does, however, preside over the city's seven-member city council, which sets all policy. The city elects its mayor and three council members at large, meaning that every registered voter within the city limits may vote for all four positions. The other four council members represent specific districts of the city and are elected by voters living in their districts. Terms for the mayor and all council members are two years, with a three-consecutive-term limitation for each office. The city holds nonpartisan elections each May. The mayor and the at-large council members are elected in even-numbered years, and the four district council members are elected in odd-numbered years.

Killeen's main newspaper is the Killeen Daily Herald, which has been publishing under different formats since 1890.[23] The paper was one of four owned by the legendary Texas publisher Frank W. Mayborn, whose wife remains its editor and publisher.

The Herald also publishes the Fort Cavazos Herald, an independent publication in the Fort Cavazos area, not authorized by Fort Cavazos Public Affairs, and the Cove Herald, a weekly paper for the residents of Copperas Cove.

The official paper of Fort Cavazos is The Fort Cavazos Sentinel, an authorized publication for members of the U.S. Army that is editorially independent of the U.S. government and military.

In 2017 Killeen was ranked the 9th most dangerous city in Texas based on crime data.[27] The city's violent crime rate of 766.2 in 2017 was more than double the national rate of 382.9 [28]

The number of murders rose from 10 in 2014 to 17 in 2015, an increase of 70%. The number of rapes increased from 114 to 189, an almost 66% increase from the prior year.[29] There were 16 homicides in 2016.[30] There were 22 homicides in Killeen in 2017, the deadliest year on record since 1991.[31]

In 2008, there were 885 violent crimes and 4,757 non-violent crimes reported in the city of Killeen as part of the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) Program. Violent crimes are the aggregation of the UCR Part 1 crimes of murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Non-violent crimes are the aggregation of the crimes of burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft.

Killeen's 2008 UCR Part 1 crimes break down as follows:

Rates are crimes per 100,000 population. The Killeen rates are calculated using the estimated 2008 population figure of 115,906 as provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Luby's shooting

Memorial to those killed in the Luby's Massacre

Main article: Luby's shooting

A mass shooting took place on October 16, 1991, at a Luby's restaurant in Killeen. The perpetrator, George Hennard, drove his pickup truck through the front window of the restaurant, and immediately shot and killed 23 people, and wounded 27 others before fatally shooting himself.

Two additional mass shooting events have taken place at the adjacent Ft. Hood, the 2009 Fort Hood shooting and the 2014 Fort Hood shootings.

• Brad Buckley, member of the Texas House of Representatives for House District 54
• Lisa Kristine Cummins, American dentist and fashion model
• Adam Earnheardt, academic and author
• Ta'Quon Graham, NFL player
• Michael Hancock, mayor of Denver, Colorado
• Don Hardeman, football running back
• Tommie Harris, football defensive tackle
• Nadal Hasan, US army officer who was responsible for the 2009 Fort Hood shooting
• Othello Henderson, football defensive tackle
• Oveta Culp Hobby, first Secretary of U.S. Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare
• Cory Jefferson, basketball player
• Shane Kimbrough, NASA astronaut
• Royce O'Neale, NBA player
• Mike Stulce, shot putter
• Carl Eugene Watts, serial killer
• Mike Dimes, rapper

Osan, South Korea, has been Killeen's Sister City since 1995.[35]

Killeen is also twinned with San Juan, Puerto Rico.[36]

• Bell County Historical Commission. Story of Bell County, Texas 2 vols. Austin: Eakin Press, 1988.
• Duncan Gra'Delle, Killeen: Tale of Two Cities, 1882–1982. Killeen, Texas: 1984.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Killeen, Texas.

• City of Killeen official website