Killeen began after the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad extended its tracks from Temple to Lampasas in the early 1880s and installed a switching station near the midway point. The settlement that grew around the site became Killeen, named for Frank P. Killeen, an Ireland native and senior railroad official. The first train arrived on May 15, 1882, marking the town's beginning. Many early residents came from the nearby pioneer communities of Sugar Loaf and Palo Alto. Town lots were sold by the GC & SF Railroad, and one of the earliest buildings was a wooden community school that opened in the fall of 1882. By the following year, Killeen had two gristmills and a cotton gin. The town was incorporated in 1893, and W.E. Hudson was elected first mayor. In its early development, Killeen was primarily an agricultural center producing cotton, grain, wool, and cattle. In 1942 it became the home of Camp Hood, now Fort Hood, whose growth as a major military base had a dramatic impact on the city and made it one of the fastest growing towns in Texas.