KILLEEN

city, Bell county, central Texas, U.S., west of Temple, 65 miles (105 km) north of Austin. Laid out (1882) 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. 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). Inc. 1908. Pop. (1990) city, 63,535; Killeen-Temple MSA, 255,299; (1994 est.) city, 82,856; (1995 est.) Killeen-Temple MSA, 289,903.