[1] The community, originally called Elk Cross Roads, was settled in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

During the latter half of the 19th century, the community grew with large scale timber harvesting and the mining of mica and copper.

In 1894, the Post Office was formally renamed Todd in honor of Joseph Warren Todd, a native son, a Civil War veteran credited with restoring order and thwarting bushwhackers in Watauga and Ashe counties immediately after the war.

In 1910, the Virginia–Carolina Railway announced the company would extend tracks from West Jefferson to Elk Cross Roads.

At the peak of the boom, Todd boasted two doctors, a dentist, one bank, seven stores, three mills and two hotels.

During the middle and latter parts of the 20th century, Todd was just a crossroads with a post office, a store and home to hard-working mountain farming families.