Crabbs Prairie

Crabb's Prairie, near the junction of State Highway 75 and Farm Road 1696 and some seven miles northwest of Huntsville in central Walker County, was named for Hillary M. Crabb, who served as a county judge and Texas legislator. Crabb settled during the early 1830s on land now in Walker County; he received title to 4,000 acres on February 11, 1835. After Texas won its independence, newly arriving settlers congregated around Crabb's homestead. Crabb's Prairie was connected to Huntsville by a road built in 1846 and was on the stage route that linked Huntsville and Navasota. In 1901 the Cook Springs Baptist Church was built in the area and a school was established near the Alexander homestead. The Crabb's Prairie school offered seven grades in 1911. In 1936 the community had three businesses, two schools, and a church, surrounded by numerous farm dwellings. In the 1980s Crabb's Prairie was served by one business and the nearby Baptist church; local students attended school in Huntsville.