CRANDALL, TEXAS. Crandall is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 175 and Farm roads 148 and 3039, nine miles west of Kaufman in west central Kaufman County. The catalyst for its development was the decision of the Texas Trunk Line Railway to lay tracks through the area in 1880. Rev. C. F. Crandall gave the railroad a right-of-way through his land, and the community that quickly developed there was named in his honor; it became a shipping point for area farmers. In 1881 a post office branch was opened at the community. By 1884 the town had a gristmill, a cotton gin, a church, a school, and a population of fifty. Its population grew to an estimated 150 by 1890 and to 251 by 1904. By the mid-1920s Crandall had an estimated 750 residents and fifty businesses, including two banks. Its population dropped slightly during the Great Depressionqv years, and some Crandall residents moved to work in the cities during World War II.qv In 1943 Crandall had 500 residents. In 1988 it had 1,207 residents and fifteen businesses, and in 1990 it had 1,652 residents. The population had grown to 2,774 by 2000.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Robert Richard Butler, History of Kaufman County, Texas (M.A. thesis, University of Texas, 1940).
David Minor
