Gatesville was founded in 1854 when Coryell County was organized. It is named after Fort Gates, which was established nearby in 1849 to protect settlers. The lawlessness of the 1870s, with cattle and horse rustling, only lessened in the 1880s when barbed-wire fencing helped bring legal stability. Within a few years and after the St. Louis and Southwestern Railway was extended here from Waco in 1882, the town had grist- and sawmills and a cotton gin. The establishment of Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos) to the south by the U.S. Army in 1942 provided a steady support to the economy, still significant today.
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