In 1907, the Victoria County History described Great Crosby's location thus: 'The ancient township of Great Crosby, which includes Waterloo, lies on the northern shore of the estuary of the Mersey, with a level sandy beach extending over three miles (5 km) from north-west to southeast; it stretches inland some two miles (3 km), and has an area of 2,168 acres (8.77 km2), of which 1,907 acres (7.72 km2) belong to the present diminished township.

The Liverpool and Southport line of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, opened in 1848, with stations at Waterloo and Blundellsands, also passes through the township.

An electric tramway connects Great Crosby with the Seaforth terminus of the Liverpool Overhead Railway.'

The village grew rapidly during the late 19th and early 20th century and merged with a number of distinct areas with their own character, to form the Great Crosby urban district.

The Corona played the Bill Hayley film 'Rock Around The Clock' just before the cinema closed in 1957 and demolished before the end of that decade.

Land had been purchased in Crosby Village, across the road from the Crown Buildings, to be redeveloped into a Super Cinema.

Another musical venue was St. Lukes Church Hall on Liverpool Road, where regular Saturday night dances were held.

The frontage of the red brick Alexandra Hall had an ironwork and glass canopy, which was removed in the late 1950s because of rust erosion.

Residents can commute to Liverpool or Southport either by car, by bus or by train from Blundellsands & Crosby and Hall Road stations, located on the Northern Line of the Merseyrail network.

Once a year the S23 operated from Crosby Bus Station to Aintree Old Roan in connection with the Grand National; this service fell into decline and ceased in the early sixties.

As traffic congestion grew in the early 1960s, the Ribble services began to suffer reliability problems.

In January 1972, Ribble signed an agency agreement with Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive which gave the PTE control of all bus services in Crosby.

The line was listed in Dr. Beeching's Report for closure in 1962, as requiring extra sets of trains for peak hour use only was costly.