Located in an area of McLennan County once inhabited by Tonkawa Indians, Crawford grew slowly from an 1850s settlement centered around Tonk Crossing two miles northeast. The first townsite stood at the crossroads of the Waco to Gatesville and Belton to Fort Graham trade routes. The exact source of the town's name is unknown, but possible origins include Coryell City resident William Nelson Crawford, who graded the Tonk Creek Crossing, A.C. Crawford of Galveston, a director of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad, or Texas Ranger George Crawford, who was stationed there. Development increased after the Civil War, and a post office opened in 1871. By the latter part of that decade, the town had several stores, a tavern, a blacksmith shop, and a school with an enrollment of about 100. In 1881, the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad, building north from Temple to Fort Worth, bypassed the original townsite, and residents began moving along the new line. Crawford then experienced economic growth, and it soon had four churches, a cotton gin, and a grain mill. Incorporated in 1897, the town remained an important agricultural center throughout the twentieth century, at times with more than 700 residents, two banks, and dozens of local businesses. In July 1999, Texas Governor George W. Bush and his family bought the former Englebrecht Ranch, or Prairie Chapel Ranch, west of town. His election as President of the United States in 2000 turned the ranch into the Western White House, where U.S. officials and foreign heads of state gathered. Crawford gained international media attention and served as the official voting place for President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush.