A bit of Crawfordsville History

This bit of Crawfordsville history taken from a special Bicentennial edition of the Washington Evening Journal in 1976.

Crawfordsville is one of the oldest towns in the county and also one of the smallest, people wise. A headcount in 76 showed 323 people and in 2024 that number had fallen to 278. Many homes in 1976 showed households with one two people and many elderly residing in them. Many of those were related individuals. Today if you ask longtime residents they will say they don't know their neighbors.

Crawfordsville in 1976, the same as today was in the capable hands of a mayor and five councilmen and city clerk. They meet the second Tuesday of each month in the City Hall in the new Fire Station which was built in 1974, a joint effort of the town and Crawford Township. The volunteer firemen meet monthly at City Hall.

In the early days Crawfordsville could only boast of a combination drug store-post office and a blacksmith. In 1976 the drugstore and "smithy" were gone but the town still had a post office, which not only served town residents, but 162 rural families, including Wyman. The postal facility then, as today occupied a portion of the American Legion Building.

They mention that a run through town might give the impression of little activity, but there was the Peoples Savings Bank, which is still here today. There was one grocery store and a cafe, Ford Motor Company, a meat locker, a veterinary office, a barbershop, two beauty salons and three gas stations, a lumber company and at least two other feed stores, an insurance business, a card shop, trucking company, ceramics shop, welding shop, a hardware store, an auto body shop, a fix-it shop, antiques shop, earth moving business, carpenter shop, salvage company, bulk oil delivery a saw shop and more. My how things have changed! In 2025, we still have the Bank, Post Office, American Legion, WACO Elementary School, and three feed businesses.

The United Church of Crawfordsville, a yoked ministry of Methodist and Presbyterian Congregations, was formed June 1 of 1975. The new church was built in 1980.

Crawfordsville has been a part of the WACO Community School District since July 1, 1972. Elementary students in Preschool through 6 grade attend classes here. This is true today with students not only from the Crawfordsville area, but also Wayland and Olds.

Organizations and clubs have always had an important role in the community, with many fewer today. The Lions Club has always been strong in the community and pride themselves with the motto, "We Serve." They support sight-saving projects and in 1976 had an annual July Pony Show. Annually the Lions did cemetery cleanup and roadside cleanup. Then as today, they have an annual Christmas drawing, which brings in people from near and far and an Easter Egg Hunt. Today they hold pancake breakfasts twice a year.

The American Legion was and still is a meeting place for 4-H Clubs and on Memorial Day people meet for a coffee following services at the cemetery. The Legion sponsors a Halloween party each year and that tradition continues.

To be continued next week.