Killeen

Killeen, city, Bell county, central Texas, U.S., lying west of Temple and 65 miles (105 km) north of Austin. Laid out (1882) as Palo Alto by the Santa Fe Railway and named for Frank P. Killeen, a civil engineer with the line, it remained a small farming and ranching community until Camp Hood (a U.S. military reservation covering a large area of hillock-studded mesa) was established nearby in 1942. Killeen rapidly developed as a service centre for the camp, reestablished in 1951 as Fort Hood, headquarters of the First Armored Division. Robert Gray Army Airfield and West Fort Hood are immediately west of the city. Killeen is the seat of Central Texas (junior) College (1965) and the University of Central Texas (1973; private). Inc. 1908. Pop. (2010) 127,921; Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood Metro Area, 405,300; (2020) 153,095; Killeen-Temple Metro Area, 475,367.