How Keene got its name
In 1892 a group of citizens living near Dallas chose a committee to purchase land for a school in Johnson County. This committee financed the purchase of 800 acres a few miles east of Cleburne for $ 8,000.
According to a poem by Vance Reed in the Spring 1981 edition of Spotlight, Southwestern Adventist University’ s alumni magazine, Keene was almost named College Hill, Oak Grove, or Greenville. Reed, who served as Keene’ s first mayor from 1955-1958, writes that Joe Stokes, the longtime conductor of Old Betsy, the train whose tracks were built on what is now Old Betsy Road through Keene, used to call out,“ All off for the Holy City,” as the steam engine pulled into the station.
Realizing the town didn’ t have a name, Reed said one local leader suggested College Hill.
“ But a sister opined that a name she’ d find, far better than College Hill. So she worked away day after day, to have the town named Greenville.
“ But the deacon, said he,“ It is plain to see that a name which all would love, should include the name of our favorite tree; why not call the place Oak Grove?”
According to Reed’ s poem, three letters containing the nominated names were sent to the Postmaster General.
“ And the Postmaster General finally said,‘ One thing can be clearly seen. They’ re so keen on having a name for that town, let’ s give it the name of Keene.’”
According to Mary Ann Hadley, former historian for the Hopps Museum and compiler of“ The Chronicle of Southwestern Adventist College,” the“ Postmaster General” was the person who held that position at the state level in Austin, not the federal level in Washington, D. C. She said her research revealed that he had a friend named Keene.
And so, as Reed rhymes,“ a town there was at the top of a hill, with a campus broad and green, where the Mizpah Gate at the end of the street, welcomes us all to Keene.”
BRIEF HISTORY OF SWAU
Keene’ s early pioneers opened Keene Industrial Academy in 1893. Over the years, the school experienced several name changes, including Southwestern Junor College in 1916, Southwestern Union College in 1977, Southwestern Adventist College in 1987, and finally to Southwestern Adventist University in 1996.
FIRST SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH
In January 1894, 67 people met on a hill between Alvarado and Cleburne in Johnson County, Texas, and signed their names as charter members of the Keene Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Today, more than 130 years later, the Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventist has more than 69,000 members, representing
14 Keene Chamber of Commerce 2025