William Carey Crane (March 17, 1816 – February 27, 1885) was an American Baptist minister, an educator, and the president of Baylor University from 1864 to 1885.

[1][3] He attended the Mount Pleasant Classical Institute in Amherst, Massachusetts, and Virginia Baptist Seminary, now known as Richmond College.

[1][2] In 1883, he attended the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institute and Madison, now known as Colgate University.

[1][2] In 1844, he was a professor at Union University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and he edited The Baptist with R. B. C. Howell for two years in Nashville.

[2] He served as a pastor in Centre Hill, Coldwater, Oxford, Mississippi and New Connah, Tennessee.

[3] During his tenure in office, he put considerable time into fundraising for Baylor, and also put his personal wealth, estimated at $7,000 to $10,000, into his attempts to strengthen the university and give it a permanent place in Independence.

[3] His attempts to garner financial support from Baptist organizations brought him into conflict with Rufus Burleson, then president of Waco University.