Kildare grew up around large sawmills in the area and was a station on the Texas and Pacific Railway in the early 1870s. A post office was established at Kildare in 1874 and was named for one of the railroad officials. The community also had two churches and 200 residents in 1884. The Kildare and Linden Railway built a track so that the Texas Pacific could expand to Linden in 1890. It experienced a population boom to 500 residents that year but then plummeted to 214 by 1900. Its population remained stable until the late 1950s; by that time, Kildare had become a shipping point for lumber. The population further declined to 125 in 1964, resulting in the closure of the railroad station the next decade. The community had a gas station, a store, two churches, and several scattered houses at that time. In 1990, Kildare had one business and 49 residents, which remained at that number in 2000.^[2] The population grew to 106 in 2010.^[3]

Whittaker Memorial Cemetery is located near the community.^[4] Both it and the Masonic Lodge Hall and Baptist Church were added to the National Register of Historic Places.^[5]

Kildare is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Roads 125 and 248, 8 mi (13 km) southeast of Linden, 12 mi (19 km) south of Atlanta, 40 mi (64 km) southwest of Texarkana, and 15 mi (24 km) northeast of Jefferson in southeastern Cass County.^[3]

Kildare had its own school in 1884.^[2] Today, the Linden-Kildare Consolidated Independent School District serves area students.

• Cliff Bell, Negro league player
• Shock Linwood, Baylor University running back