DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the town of Craft, out in Cherokee County. Now, every town's got a name, and some towns earn theirs twice. This one started out called Independence — bold name, no shortage of ambition there — but when the post office came through in 1891, something had to give.
The name Craft was chosen, to honor Thomas J. Craft, the first postmaster and a man the community counted as a leader. So Independence faded, and Craft took root.
And root it did. The town had grown up in the 1890s on the railroad, which in East Texas was about as good a foundation as you could ask for. Rails meant movement.
Movement meant commerce. And commerce, in Craft's case, meant tomatoes. In 1896, C.
D. and S. H. Jarrat and W.
R. Stout made a move that would define this corner of Cherokee County for decades to come — they began commercial tomato growing and production right here. Now, you might nod at that and think, well, that's a fine agricultural venture.
But here's where the story gets its size. By 1917, ninety percent of all the tomatoes shipped out of the state of Texas were coming from this area. Ninety percent.
Of all of Texas. From one patch of East Texas red dirt served by one railroad town. The town declined in the 1930s — history has a way of humbling even the most fruitful places — but Craft doesn't fade into nothing.
It holds its place in the record for what it did when it was doing it: growing and shipping tomatoes on a scale that fed the whole state's reputation, and then some. Some towns are remembered for battles or boom-or-bust oil. Craft is remembered for the vine.
And in East Texas, that's no small thing.
What the marker says
Known first as Independence, the town of Craft grew up in the 1890s on the railroad. When a post office was established in 1891, the name Craft was chosen to honor Thomas J. Craft, first postmaster and community leader. In 1896, C. D. and S. H. Jarrat and W. R. Stout began commercial tomato growing and production here. By 1917, 90 percent of Texas' tomatoes were shipped from this area. The town declined in the 1930s but is important for its early role in the East Texas tomato growing and shipping industry.