Caddo

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Caddo, down in Stephens County. Now, the 1860 census counted fewer than 200 residents in all of Stephens County. Fewer than 200 souls spread across that whole stretch of Texas.

And yet, that same year, a man named Joe Schoolcraft looked out at Caddo Creek, fifteen miles south of a Caddo Indian village, picked the north bank where Elm Creek comes in, and said: this is the place. He built his home right there. And from that single decision, a town began to grow.

Over the next decade it grew, quietly, the way towns do when nobody's watching. By 1875, Perry K. Taylor had opened a store.

By 1876, local ranchers were riding into the courthouse to record their brands, which tells you something about how serious this place had gotten. The Big Red Store followed shortly after, opened by R.Q. Lee and the Butlers, and that store eventually became Sandidge, Lee and Co. in 1906.

The Caddo post office opened in 1877. Early settlers were putting down roots with the kind of confidence that says they planned to stay. Names like Jere Hart, C.J.

Johnson, A.W. Corbett, Tom Thompson, W.B. Richardson, William Copeland, John Robinson, and Josephus Knott.

Families named Gracey, Swenson, McMeen, Lee, and Winston. In 1883, the town hired Dora Mandy as the first schoolteacher, which means there were enough children by then to make the hiring necessary. By 1890, they'd put up a two-story structure, used for school, for church, for Masonic lodge meetings, one building doing the work of three.

Then in 1910, it burned. The town built again, this time a red brick and rock schoolhouse right on Caddo Creek. The first physician arrived in 1886, and among the town's early doctors was a woman, Dr.

Evans. Local churches organized in the 1890s, and the Baptist congregation built its sanctuary in 1894. Tom Lay, one of those early settlers, hauled water to local residents.

Telephone service reached the town in 1898. Cattle, horses, sheep, and cotton carried Caddo through the years, steady and unremarkable, until 1916. That year, the first oil well came in.

And everything changed. By 1919, Caddo led the entire state of Texas in oil production. The entire state.

Thousands of new residents poured in. Businesses followed. The boom roared through town like it owned the place, because for a while, it did.

And then, the way booms tend to do, it wound down. By the early 1920s it was fading. By World War II, the population had declined.

The last class of maroon and white Caddo Cougars graduated in 1945, and after that, the school consolidated with Breckenridge. Highway construction bypassed the town in the 1950s. By the year 2000, fewer than 50 people lived in Caddo, most of them getting by on agriculture and oil, the same two things that had been there before the boom and long after it left.

Joe Schoolcraft picked a spot on the north bank of Caddo Creek and built a home. What grew up around it, and what quieted back down, is the whole arc of the American frontier, told in one small Texas town.

What the marker says

The 1860 census reported fewer than 200 residents in Stephens County. That year, Joe Schoolcraft settled on Caddo Creek, 15 miles south of a Caddo Indian village. He built his home on the north bank of Caddo Creek at Elm Creek. The town grew during the next decade, and in 1876, local ranchers began recording their brands at the courthouse. Early settlers included Jere Hart, C.J. Johnson, A.W. Corbett, Tom Thompson, W.B. Richardson, William Copeland, John Robinson and Josephus Knott, as well as the Graceys, Swensons, McMeens, Lees and Winstons. Perry K. Taylor opened a store in 1875. Shortly thereafter, R.Q. Lee and the Butlers opened "the Big Red Store," which became Sandidge, Lee & Co. in 1906. The Caddo post office opened in 1877. In 1883, the town hired Dora Mandy as the first schoolteacher. A two-story structure was built in 1890 and was used for school, church and Masonic lodge meetings; it burned in 1910, and residents then built a red brick and rock schoolhouse on Caddo Creek. The first physician came in 1886, and the town's early doctors included a woman named Dr. Evans. Local churches organized in the 1890s; the Baptist congregation built its sanctuary in 1894. Early settler Tom Lay hauled water to local residents, who also had access to telephone service in 1898. Cattle, horses, sheep and cotton were the mainstay of the town until 1916, when the first oil well came in. In 1919, Caddo led the state in oil production. The boom, which attracted thousands of new residents and numerous businesses, lasted until the early 1920s. By World War II, the population had declined. The last class of maroon and white Caddo Cougars graduated in 1945; the town consolidated its school with Breckenridge. Highway construction bypassed the town in the 1950s, and Caddo's population continued to decrease. Fewer than 50 people lived in the town in 2000, most relying on agriculture and oil. (2002)