[4] The name is derived from a Caddo word, ka do hada’ cho, meaning "real chief" in English.

[citation needed] In 1872, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (Katy) built a line through the Choctaw Nation and established a station at Caddo.

A post office was opened December 18, 1872, and the railroad reached Denison, Texas by Christmas Day.

[6] At the time of its founding Caddo was located in Blue County, a part of the Pushmataha District of the Choctaw Nation.

[7] Caddo was on the route of the Jefferson Highway established in 1915, with that road running more than 2,300 miles from Winnipeg, Manitoba to New Orleans, Louisiana.

[8] When the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway (Frisco) planned to build an east–west line through the area, land prices jumped up.

“Caddo was a thriving town when Durant was a switch; when Hugo was a prairie; when Madill was unborn; when Coalgate was un-thought-of; when Ardmore was only in Pennsylvania; when Idabel was yet to be; when Atoka was a small village.

We did not elect a delegate to Bill Murray’s famous Constitutional Convention; and tried to live upon the glories of the past.

The future is another thing.”[9] According to the United States Census Bureau, Caddo has a total area of 2.1 square miles (5.4 km2), all land.