Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative Association, Inc. began in March 1954, by obtaining the exchange of Brazilton, Kansas.  This exchange had a total of 14 subscribers.  On June 29, 1954, the Board of Directors voted to purchase the Hiattville, Kansas exchange from Mr. George Brock.  Also, in June 1954, the Board of Directors voted to purchase the Crawford Telephone and Telegraph Company from Mrs. C. J. Yourk, D. O. Shile, and Mrs. Dora Gaitskill.  This transaction added the Kansas exchanges of Girard, Farlington, Arma, Cherokee, and a Western Union Teletype Service operated by Craw-Kan, until May 10, 1955.  The exchange of Hepler, Kansas, owned by D. D. Ensley and operating under the Hepler Telephone Company, was acquired in July 1954.  Since the Cooperative was growing rapidly, the Board of Directors decided, on July 12, 1954, to hire their first manager.  Mr. John Frerichs, serving as President-Chairman of the Craw-Kan Board of Directors, was unanimously hired to fill this position.  At this time, Mr. Frerichs was also employed as General Manager of the Sekan Electric Cooperative, which had their headquarters in Girard.  After negotiations between the Board of Directors of the Sekan Electric Cooperative and the Craw-Kan Board, it was decided he would function as General Manager of both Cooperatives.  Mr. Frerichs held this unique position until his retirement on December 31, 1980.  During the years of his employment with Craw-Kan, he was instrumental in purchasing the exchanges we have today.  He worked hard to build the strong foundation making Craw-Kan what it is today.
By December 31, 1954, the Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative Association, Inc. was in full operation.  The Cooperative had 24 employees.  There were 15 operators located in the various exchanges, five linemen, one book-keeper, one cashier, one clerk, and a janitor, all located at the business office in Girard, Kansas.  The Cooperative consisted of a total of seven exchanges and approximately 1,422 subscribers.
In 1956, the Cooperative continued to grow, with the purchase of Weir, Walnut, Mulberry, Arcadia, Fulton, Devon, and West Mineral, Kansas.  Uniontown, Kansas was acquired in 1958, along with Savonburg, Kansas and Prescott, Kansas, following in 1959.  Still growing rapidly during the next few years, the Cooperative purchased Columbus, Crestline, Hallowell, Galesburg, McCune, Bronson and Colony exchanges in Kansas.  Within approximately six years, the Cooperative had acquired a total of 24 exchanges in Kansas.  While purchasing each exchange, the Cooperative was continually making plans to install Stromberg-Carlson central office equipment enabling the Cooperative to eventually upgrade each exchange to a dial system.
On December 19, 1961, the Waco Telephone Company, serving Asbury, Missouri was purchased.  The Missouri exchanges of Amsterdam, Amoret, Purcell, Foster, and Hume were added during the next ten years.  The Waco Telephone Company, owned by Craw-Kan but operated as a separate company, was merged with Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative, Inc. on January 1, 1975.
The Edna Telephone Company, purchased on April 8, 1969, also operated as a separate company until the merger on April 30, 1974.  This merger added the Edna, Oklahoma exchange and the Bartlett, Kansas exchange to the Cooperative.

The final purchase, made by the Cooperative in October of 1971, was for the Pleasanton Telephone Company owned by C. E. Tucker.  This company was purchased by Craw-Kan, but was operated as a separate company.   On January 1, 1981, after the retirement of Mr. Frerichs, Lyndell L. 'Pete" Hurt was promoted to General Manager by Glade Peel, President of Craw-Kan at the time.  Mr. Hurt began his telephone career in 1955, when he started to work for the Finley Engineering Company at Lamar, Missouri.  During his 21 years at Finley, he gained engineering experience working with telephone companies in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma.  In 1976, Mr. Hurt started to work for Craw-Kan where he worked in an engineering and administrative role, and finally as assistant manager until 1981.
During Mr. Hurt's first year as General Manager the Pleasanton Telephone Company was merged with Craw-Kan Telephone.   On April 28, 1983, the Craw-Kan Board of Directors approved the purchase of the Girard Alarm Company from N. T. Jacquinot.  This purchase was the beginning of a new Craw-Kan subsidiary.  On May 24, 1983, the Craw-Kan Board of Directors approved the Articles of Incorporation for the new subsidiary to be entitled, Craw-Kan Communication Systems, Inc.  The subsidiary handles all work related to installation and sales of alarm systems and coordinates a central monitoring station.  The installation and sales of satellite television systems was added October 22, 1987.  

In June 1989, Craw-Kan entered into an agreement with the Southeast Kansas Regional Service Center at Greenbush, Kansas to construct an educational two-way, interactive television network between four school districts, and the Service Center at Greenbush.  All four school districts are in Craw-Kan's exchange areas.  After review and approval by the Kansas Corporation Commission, the proposed network was designated as a 'pilot' project to help expedite its completion in early 1990.