The frontier county became an early crossroads, beginning with a California Gold Rush and developing into the Butterfield Overland Mail, Civil War trails and railroads such as the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway, the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad, and the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway.

[4] Crawford County is included in an area designated for a planned extension of I-49 into Arkansas.

The final project will connect New Orleans, Louisiana, to Kansas City, Missouri, a large trucking corridor which is currently not served by an Interstate highway.

The proposed highway would utilize portions of I-49 which currently runs north from Van Buren toward the Missouri state line passing through Benton County, home of Walmart.

Crawford County (specifically, that area known as "Lovely's Purchase") was historically part of the Cherokee Nation, which lost its tribal sovereignty status as a result of the U.S. Civil War in the 1860s.

[13] Crawford County is a longtime Republican stronghold, so much so that not even former governor and native Arkansan Bill Clinton was able to carry it in either of his presidential victories.

Each township includes unincorporated areas; some may have incorporated cities or towns within part of their boundaries.

However, the United States census does list Arkansas population based on townships (sometimes referred to as "county subdivisions" or "minor civil divisions").

Each town or city is within one or more townships in an Arkansas county based on census maps and publications.