Cherokee County Cherokee County is the name of eight counties in the United States:
* Cherokee County, Alabama
* Cherokee County, Georgia
* Cherokee County, Iowa
* Cherokee County, Kansas
* Cherokee County, North Carolina
* Cherokee County, Oklahoma
* Cherokee Cou ...
Handbook of Texas
The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA).
History
The original ''Handbook'' was the brainchild of TSHA President Wal ...
A post office was established at Craft in 1891 and remained in operation until 1929, with Thomas J. Craft as postmaster. Both the community and post office were named after him. Rusk Transportation was the first railroad that was built through the area, connecting it to Rusk to the southeast and Jacksonville to the north in 1875. It then became known as the Kansas and Gulf Short Line in 1881. The
St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas Railway
ST, St, or St. may refer to:
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bought it in 1887 and subsequently joined the
St. Louis Southwestern Railway
The St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company , known by its nickname of "The Cotton Belt Route" or simply "Cotton Belt", is a former Class I railroad that operated between St. Louis, Missouri, and various points in the U.S. states of Arkansas, Ten ...
four years later. A carload of tomatoes was shipped there on June 14, 1897. This made the community very successful for the next few decades. Its population was recorded at 10 in 1896, then grew to 50 in 1925. It had a post office, a depot, a church, two general stores, and two sheds for packing tomatoes at its zenith. Craft's population went down to 21 from 1972 through 2000, when the area became urbanized and farming gave way. It had a church, a store, and several scattered houses in the mid-1980s. The community received a Texas Historical Marker in 1985 at its original townsite.
Geography
Craft is located along
U.S. Highway 69
U.S. Route 69 (US 69) is a major north–south United States highway. When it was first created, it was only long, but it has since been expanded into a Minnesota to Texas cross-country route. The highway's southern terminus (as well a ...
, south of Jacksonville in northern Cherokee County.