Ranger is located east of Abilene between Cisco and Fort Worth along I-20 in Eastland County near Leon Reservoir.
History says this was a quiet rural community in the 1870s but, in October 1917, a gusher blew in and touched off one of the greatest booms in petroleum history.
The boom also brought with it rapid growth in the number of gambling houses and brothels, and oilfield killings reportedly were common; many people considered Ranger to be a typical oil-boom town.
Although the town never recovered its former wealth after the boom ended in 1921, the postdepression era saw Ranger recover economically, saved by sheep and goat ranching and the cultivation of peanuts, cotton, and sweet potatoes. By the 1960s Ranger had fifteen industries. In the 1970s Eastland County became the second most important county for peanut culture in the state.
In 1990 Ranger had a population of 2,803.