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History · Crystal

Crystal’s post office opened in 1903

Most of Crystal was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1987. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1911 on.

1903first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Crystal’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Crystal began, and where its name came from

When was Crystal founded?

1903

The Crystal post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 302123 years

How did Crystal get its name?

Crystal’s name likely derives from its Navajo moniker meaning "crystal water flows out."

Founding year: the first Crystal post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Crystal’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Crystal’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Crystal’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewJ.-B.-Moore-Crystal-Trading-Post-with-N…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Crystal came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Crystal.

Read it all →

The first known trader in the Washington Pass area (now Narbona Pass) was Romulo Martinez, a Spanish-American from Fort Defiance, in 1873. The names of other traders are recorded for the following years, but they seem all to have been temporary, trading from tents in the summer season.

Crystal was founded in 1884 when a trading post was established. Its name likely derives from its Navajo moniker meaning "crystal water flows out."

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Crystal, 1903 to 1941

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1903Post officeThe Crystal post office opens
  3. 1911In the archiveJ.-B.-Moore-Crystal-Trading-Post-with-Navajo-Rug
  4. 1941Post officeThe Crystal post office closes
By decade

Crystal, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
J.-B.-Moore-Crystal-Trading-Post-with-Navajo-Rug1911J.-B.-Moore-Crystal-Trading-Post-with-Navajo-Rug
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today1 recent
NMMap-doton-Crystal2004NMMap-doton-Crystal
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

J.-B.-Moore-Crystal-Trading-Post-with-Navajo-Rug
Retake this viewJ.-B.-Moore-Crystal-Trading-Post-with-Navajo-Rug, 1911

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Crystal’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Crystal

Nobody well known was born in Crystal itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
J
Jeremiah BitsuiAmerican actor · b. 2000
R. C. GormanDiné (Navajo) painter and printmaker · b. 1931
Clara ShermanNavajo artist · b. 1914
Raven ChaconNavajo composer and artist · b. 1977
Joe Shirley, Jr.President of the Navajo Nation · b. 1947
R
Rachel FeinsteinSculptor · b. 1971
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Crystal had its own post office from 1903 to 1941.

Crystal
1903–1941
19001960today
Gone or out of use
Crystal Post Officepost office

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Crystal’s history

What year was Crystal founded?

The Crystal post office opened in 1903, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.