History:
This area of sagebrush and wilderness was first settled in 1834. The earliest settlers were repeatedly driven off by Indian attacks, with the last of these attacks, the massacre of John and Jane Riggs on March 16, 1859.
The coming of the railroad in May 1882 marked the beginning of the town named after Frank P. Killeen, an employee of the railroad. Many families from the surrounding and much older communities moved to Killeen to be near the railroad.