Biohazard Cleanup Near North Hydro Hydro, OK

Hydro is a town in Caddo County, Oklahoma — with its northern tip extending into Blaine County — founded on August 6, 1901, when the Wichita and Caddo Reservation opened for settlement.

Hydro was first called Caddo, but when the post office was established in September 1901 the name was changed to Hydro in reference to the town's plentiful well water.

In 1941, Carl and Lucille Hamons opened a service station and tourist courts on U.S. Route 66 just south of Hydro.

Lucille Hamons ran the station for nearly six decades, until her death in 2000, and her hospitality to travelers earned her the nickname "Mother of the Mother Road."

Lucille's station, the Provine Service Station, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 and is one of only two classic two-story stations left on Oklahoma's stretch of Route 66.

A "Hamons Court" sign from the Hydro business is preserved in the collections of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

Hydro's population rose from 524 in 1907 to a peak of 948 in 1930, fell during the Depression and Dust Bowl, and recovered to 1,060 by 2000 before easing to 927 in the 2020 census.

Hydro sits just north of Interstate 40 and old Route 66, about 63 miles west of Oklahoma City and eight miles east of Weatherford.