unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
Handbook of Texas
The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...
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
A rusk is a hard, dry Biscuit#Biscuits in British usage, biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a teether for babies. In some cultures, rusk is made of cake rather than bread: this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk. In the ...
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 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", was a Class I railroad that operated between St. Louis, Missouri, and various points in the U.S. states of Arkansas, Tennessee ...
four years later. A carload of
tomato
The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...
es 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 in the central United States. 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 ...
, south of
Jacksonville
Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
in northern Cherokee County.
Education
Craft had its own school with three teachers employed. The area is now part of the
Jacksonville Independent School District
Jacksonville Independent School District is a public school district based in Jacksonville, Texas, United States. Brad Stewart is currently the superintendent of JISD.
In addition to Jacksonville, the district serves the towns of Cuney and ...