The First Security State Bank, backed by Colorado capital, opened in 1910. Hoping to attract a railroad, the town moved from its first location in the gap to its present site just east of the ridge in 1913. However, the citizens' hopes for rail transportation never materialized. Local ranchers operated a wool and mohair association during the mid-1920s. In the 1980s the community school, a consolidation of eleven former districts, served a large part of the surrounding countryside.
Estimates indicate that town size fluctuated greatly through the years.
The population reached a peak of 600 around 1940. The town was incorporated in 1980, when its population was 341. Residents may have supported as many as twenty-five businesses in the 1940s, but by 1980 only nine rated businesses remained. Cranfills Gap sponsors two annual festivals-the Septemberfest and in December the Lutefisk Feast. In 1990 the population was 269.