Located on the Camas Prairie in north central Idaho, it is within the Nez Perce Indian Reservation.

The city is named for Colonel William Craig (1809–69),[5] a mountain man who had a Nez Perce wife.

He settled at Lapwai near his father-in-law Hin-mah-tute-ke-kaikt or James in 1840 when he gave up being a fur trapper due to the collapse of the market for beaver.

[6][7][8][9] The Nez Perce Reservation was opened to white settlement 130 years ago in 1895,[10][11][12][13] and a town named "Chicago," a mile west of the current Craigmont, was founded in 1898.

A fire burnt the town in 1904 and shortly thereafter the Camas Prairie Railroad bypassed the town and started a settlement, platted by Lewiston financier John P. Vollmer, on the northeast side of the railroad tracks, and he named it "Vollmer."

Ilo responded and moved its community to the southwest side of the tracks, adjacent to Vollmer.

Located within the Nez Perce Indian Reservation,[4] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.76 square miles (1.97 km2), all of it land.

[16] The climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round.

[20] After several ownership changes since 1998, the line from Spalding is now operated by BG&CM Railroad and terminates in Cottonwood.

Craigmont is the home of Highland High School, with an average of 20 to 25 students per graduating class.

The Highland Joint School District #305 was established in 1962 and includes Craigmont, Winchester, Melrose, and Reubens.