Crafton is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, west of downtown Pittsburgh.

In her 1993 historical account, local historian and Crafton-native, Betsy Martin, writes that, “Burial mounds from a much earlier pre-Columbian Adena Culture were found farther down the [Chartiers] creek toward the ‘Rocks’ in the vicinity of the Fall Hole…”[4] It is likely Martin is referring to a mound site near the junction of the Creek with the Ohio River, a site which underwent excavations in 1896 by the Carnegie Museum.

The excavation unearthed at least 33 burials, all “Early Woodland Adena in affiliation.”[5] The Indians who built the mounds are believed to be Algonquin.

For obvious reasons, the Chartiers Creek was the dominant geographical feature during the premodern era, winding a northwesterly path to its terminus in the Ohio River at McKees Rocks.

By 1749/1750, The French, under the aegis of King Louis XV, were staking land claims throughout the creek valley and surrounding forested hills and open meadows.

Crafton is named after James S. Craft, a frontier attorney who was granted land near the "forks of the Ohio" in present-day Oakland.

Charles Craft, son of James, divided the land into lots on the death of his father and submitted it to the Allegheny County Courthouse as Crafton.