Caddo County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 26,945. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Anadarko. Created in 1901 as part of

Oklahoma Territory The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as ...

, the county is named for the

Caddo The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language. The Caddo Confederacy was a network of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, who ...

tribe who were settled here on a reservation in the 1870s. Caddo County is immediately west of the seven-county Greater

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

metro area, and although is not officially in the metro area, it has many economic ties in this region.

History

Caddo County was organized on August 6, 1901, when the Federal Government allotted the

Kiowa Kiowa ( ) or Cáuigú () people are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe and an Indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colora ...

Comanche The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Tribe (Native American), Native American tribe from the Great Plains, Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the List of federally recognized tri ...

, and

Arapaho The Arapaho ( ; , ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho bands formed t ...

reservations and sold the surplus land to white settlers. The reservation land was part of Oklahoma Territory until Oklahoma became a state on November 16, 1907. Part of its land was taken at statehood to form neighboring Grady County. Some additional land was taken in 1911 and also awarded to Grady County. Redstone baptist church

Agriculture has been the mainstay of the local economy since its founding. The main crops were cotton, corn, wheat, alfalfa, broom corn, and kaffir corn. Poultry and livestock production have also been important. By 1960, Caddo County ranked first in Oklahoma for producing of peanuts, hogs and poultry. The first oil field (Cement Field) in the county was discovered in 1911, and oil production has remained important to the county economy since then. Smaller-scale booms in oil production occurred in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.9%) is water. The county mostly lies in the Gypsum Hills and the Red Bed plains physiographic areas. The extreme southwestern corner is in the

Wichita Mountains The Wichita Mountains are located in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the principal relief system in the Southern Oklahoma Aulacogen, being the result of a failed continental rift. The mountains are a northwest-south ...

. The county is drained by the

Washita River The Washita River () is a river in the U.S. states of Texas and Oklahoma. The river is long and terminates at its confluence with the Red River of the South, Red River, which is now part of Lake Texoma () on the TexasOklahoma border. Geogra ...

, Pond Creek and Sugar Creek. Major reservoirs are

Chickasha Lake Chickasha Lake, also known as Lake Chickasha, is a man-made reservoir in the central part of the state of Oklahoma. Located in Caddo County, Oklahoma, it was completed in 1958. The main purposes were supplying water (especially to the city of Chi ...

, Ellsworth Lake, and Fort Cobb Lake, Red Rock Canyon State Park near Hinton is notable for having the only remaining stand of native Caddo maple trees.

Major highways

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

Interstate 44 Interstate 44 (I-44) is an Interstate Highway in the central United States. Although it is nominally an east–west road as it is even-numbered, it follows a more southwest–northeast alignment. Its western terminus is in Wichita Falls, T ...

* H.E. Bailey Turnpike * U.S. Highway 62 * U.S. Highway 281 * U.S. Highway 277 * State Highway 8 * State Highway 9 * State Highway 19 * State Highway 58

Adjacent counties

* Blaine County (north) * Canadian County (northeast) * Grady County (east) * Comanche County (south) * Kiowa County (southwest) * Washita County (west) * Custer County (northwest)

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 30,150 people, 10,957 households, and 7,965 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 13,096 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 65.55%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.92%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 24.28% Native American, 0.17% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 2.70% from other races, and 4.36% from two or more races. 6.28% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. 93.8% English, 4.5% Spanish and 1.2%

as their first language. By 2020, its population declined to 26,945. There were 10,957 households, out of which 33.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.20% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 13.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.30% were non-families. 24.80% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.13. In the county, the population was spread out, with 28.50% under the age of 18, 8.50% from 18 to 24, 26.00% from 25 to 44, 22.10% from 45 to 64, and 14.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 98.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.00 males. The median income for a household in the county was $27,347, and the median income for a family was $32,118. Males had a median income of $26,373 versus $18,658 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $13,298. About 16.70% of families and 21.70% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 28.00% of those under age 18 and 15.90% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

During the 20th century, Caddo County was a bellwether county: between 1908 and 2004, the county voted for the winner in every election but 1908, 1956, 1960 and 1988. However, while Democrats had a large plurality of registered voters through the 2010s, the county has recently been swept up in the growing Republican trend throughout Oklahoma. John McCain (2008), Mitt Romney (2012) and Donald Trump (2016) each received at least 64% of the county's vote.

Economy

Caddo County is home to cattle ranching and significant wheat and peanut farm operations—with a few of the producers practicing environmentally friendly no-till or reduced tillage farming methods. There is also one winery and vineyard in the county (Woods and Waters Winery and Vineyard).

Communities

City

* Anadarko (county seat)

Towns

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

* Binger *

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonnock River on Long Is ...

* Carnegie *

Cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

Cyril Cyril (also Cyrillus or Cyryl) is a masculine given name. It is derived from the Greek language, Greek name (''Kýrillos''), meaning 'lordly, masterful', which in turn derives from Greek (''kýrios'') 'lord'. There are various variant forms of t ...

* Eakly * Fort Cobb * Gracemont * Hinton *

Hydro Hydro (from ) may refer to: Energy technologies * Water-derived power or energy: ** Hydropower, derived from water ** Hydroelectricity, in electrical form * "Hydro", AC mains electricity in parts of Canada * Micro hydro, a type of hydroelect ...

* Lookeba

Unincorporated communities

* Albert * Alden *

Alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial plant, perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, ...

* Boone * Broxton * Cogar *

Nowhere Nowhere may refer to: Music * ''Nowhere'' (album), an album by Ride * '' Nowhere: Music from the Gregg Araki Movie'', a soundtrack album from the 1997 film (see below) * "Nowhere" (song), a song by Therapy? * "Nowhere", a song by 112 from '' ...

* Pine Ridge * Scott * Sickles *

Spring Creek A spring creek is a type of free flowing river whose name derives from its origin: an underground Spring (hydrology), spring or set of springs which produces sufficient water to consistently feed a unique river. The water flowing in a spring cree ...

* Stecker * Washita

Education

Public school districts:
Text list
/ref> * Anadarko Public Schools * Binger-Oney Public Schools * Boone-Apache Public Schools * Carnegie Public Schools * Cement Public Schools * Cordell Public Schools * Cyril Public Schools * Fletcher Public Schools * Fort Cobb-Broxton Schools * Gracemont Public Schools * Hinton Public Schools * Hydro-Eakly Public Schools * Lookeba-Sickles Public Schools * Minco Public Schools * Verden Public Schools * Pioneer Public School (elementary school only) There is also a

Bureau of Indian Education The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) is a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior under the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs that directs and manages education functions. Formerly known as the Office of Indian Education Programs ...

(BIE)-operated school, Riverside Indian School.

NRHP sites

The following sites in Caddo County are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

: * Amphlett Brothers Drug and Jewelry Store, Apache * Anadarko Armory, Anadarko * Anadarko Downtown Historic District, Anadarko * Apache State Bank, Apache * Bridgeport Bridge, Bridgeport * Bridgeport Hill-Hydro Route 66 Segment, Hydro * Caddo County Medicine Creek Archeological District Binger * First Baptist Church (Colored), Anadarko * Fort Cobb Site, Fort Cobb * Provine Service Station, Hydro * Randlett Park, Anadarko * Rock Island Passenger Station, Anadarko * Rock Mary, Hinton * Stevens Rock Shelter, Gracemont

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Caddo County

Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory
{{Coord, 35.18, -98.38, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-OK_source:UScensus1990 Populated places established in 1901 1901 establishments in Oklahoma Territory