More historic than 3% of U.S. towns · #591 of 642 in Texas. What drives it
Most of Crane was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1928 on, and the census since 1940.
Founding year: the first Crane post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Crane’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Crane is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #591 of 642 in Texas. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Crane’s overall grade.
Few Texas towns list much on the Register (a typical Texas town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Crane’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (34% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share (±1.3 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
While the post office dates from 1908, the discovery of oil in 1926 in the Permian Basin brought in enough fortune-seekers to populate a town. Streets are named for the children of O.C. Kinnison, the realtor who drew up the town map. By 1930, Crane was a full-fledged boomtown, with churches and private businesses operating next to the more nefarious elements of frontier life. As in other oil boomtowns, development of services lagged behind temporary dwellings for the workers, although paved roads and other basic infrastructure were added following incorporation in the early 1930s.
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.
The Crane post office opened in 1908, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Crane rank for history?
Crane is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #591 of 642 in Texas. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Crane?
0.0% of Crane’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.3 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1972.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via 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.
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