[10] Crossville developed at the intersection of a branch of the Great Stage Road, which connected the Knoxville area with the Nashville area, and the Kentucky Stock Road, a cattle drovers' path connecting Middle Tennessee with Kentucky and later extending south to Chattanooga.

Scott donated the initial 40 acres (16 ha) for the erection of a courthouse and town square.

[2] Crossville and Cumberland County suffered rampant pillaging throughout the Civil War as the well-developed roads made the area accessible to both occupying Union and Confederate forces and bands of renegade guerrillas.

With divided communities and families, there was vicious guerrilla warfare, and residents suffered as if there were major battles in the area.

[13] The county was divided throughout the conflict, sending a roughly equal number of troops to both sides.

[14] After World War I, U.S. 70 helped connect the town and area to markets for its produce and goods.

Additional highways built after World War II improved transportation in the region.

Crossville was a sundown town as late as the 1950s, with a sign at the city limits warning African Americans not to stay after nightfall.

Crossville developed at the intersection of two major stage roads by which settlers moved through the area.

[10] Crossville has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with warm summers and cool winters.

Precipitation is abundant and evenly distributed (although the early autumn months are drier), with an average of 55.55 in (1,411 mm).