[4] Chadron also is the United States Forest Service headquarters of the Nebraska and Samuel R. McKelvie National Forests, and the Buffalo Gap, Fort Pierre, and Oglala National Grasslands.

Succeeding cultures of indigenous peoples lived in the area for thousands of years.

[5] In 1884 the town was formally established when the Fremont, Elkhorn, and Missouri Valley Railroad was constructed through the area from Omaha, Nebraska, en route to Wyoming.

When it was built six miles away on Bordeaux Creek, the townspeople packed up the entire town—buildings included—and moved it to the new location.

[5] Among the founders of the town were the businessman Charles Henry King and his wife Martha.

King established retail and freight businesses and banks in towns along the railroad's route; he capitalized on the flow of settlers and pioneers to the region.

In 1912 Leslie married, and in July 1913 became the father of the future president, Gerald Ford.

During the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Chadron was the starting point of the 1,000-mile "Chadron-Chicago Cowboy Horse Race."

Nine riders competed for the $1,000 prize to be the first to reach the entrance of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

[7] In the Lakota language, Chadron is known as čhápa wakpá otȟúŋwahe, meaning "beaver river city".

It is surrounded by prairie grassland, broken by a ridge of lightly forested hills to the south.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.85 square miles (9.97 km2), all of it land.

[10] According to the Western Regional Climate Center (WRCC), the highest temperature recorded in Chadron since 1987 was 109 °F (43 °C) as July 2006; the lowest was −40 °F (−40 °C) in December 1989.

[11] The 2020 United States census[16] counted 5,206 people, 2,247 households, and 1,139 families in Chadron.

Every July, Chadron hosts an annual community celebration called "Fur Trade Days," in honor of its origins as a fur and hide trading post for French and other settlers in the Great Plains during the 19th century.

Chadron's Museum of the Fur Trade is the largest of its kind in the United States and attracts thousands of visitors every year.