[4] It was named for William Carey Crane, a president of Southern Baptist-affiliated Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

Later Indian tribes included Comanches, Lipan Apache, and Kiowa.

In 1900, the United States census enumerated only 51 people and 12 ranches in the county.

[6] Church and Fields Exploration Company obtained a permit late in 1925 to drill for oil.

At the same time, the Texas Rangers were working to clean up oil towns, and the population in Crane began to include more families.

As such, numerous raids by law enforcement closed the red light district centered on Alford Street.

County history is preserved in the Museum of the Desert Southwest, which opened in Crane in 1980.

The Waddell Ranch contains the single biggest portion of the Permian Basin Royalty Trust, with over 800 producing oil wells as of 2007.

Cattle ranching and local government are other large employers; over 503,000 acres (2,040 km2) of land are used for livestock grazing.