Puerto Rican Sandwiches, delivered across Killeen.

A railroad town that never stopped growing.

Killeen started as a stop on the map — and became one of Central Texas's most diverse, dynamic cities.

The town was founded in 1882 when the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway pushed west across Bell County. A small settlement sprang up around the new station, named for Frank P. Killeen, the railroad's assistant general manager. Cotton, grain, and wool moved out on the rails; families and businesses moved in. By 1893, Killeen was officially incorporated.

For its first sixty years, Killeen stayed small — a few thousand people, a Main Street, a courthouse square. Everything changed in 1942, when the U.S. Army opened Camp Hood just west of town to train tank destroyer units for World War II. Overnight, Killeen became a boomtown. Soldiers, families, and supporting businesses poured in, and the city has been growing ever since.

Today, Killeen is one of the most diverse cities in Texas. Families from across the country — and around the world — have made it home, drawn by the military, the cost of living, and the community. Puerto Rican families are a growing part of that story, bringing language, music, and flavors from the island to Central Texas.

That's exactly where El Sandwich-on TX fits in. We opened in 2024 on Veterans Memorial Blvd to bring a piece of Ponce, Puerto Rico to the city we call home — one loaded, hot-pressed sandwich at a time.