This town, with an elevation of 4,452 feet, is an important trading point on us-g7, the Dalles-California Highway, about 50 miles south of Bend. It was at this place that the proposed junction of the Harriman north-south and east-west railroads was to have been situated, with the name of Odell for Odell Lake. Odell post office was established on August 19, 1901, with Eva Graves first postmaster. She and her husband, Charles Graves, were instrumental in establishing the community. There was another Odell in the state in the Hood River Valley, so in 1907 the Graves changed the name to Crescent for Crescent Lake, one of the large lakes of the Cascade Range located 15 miles to the west.