According to the Texas Handbook Online, Granger was founded in 1882 when the Houston and San Antonio branches of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad intersected at the site. The town was first named Pollack and later Granger after the Grange association or for John R. Granger, a Civil War veteran.

Granger was an important cotton shipping point. The town’s first newspaper, the Granger Banner, appeared sometime before November 1887. A post office was established in April 1884, and banks, churches and schools followed. In 1890, Granger had three churches, a college, a hotel and five gins. The town was incorporated in 1891. By 1900, the population had risen to 841, and it doubled in the next 10 years. By 1910, a combined cotton compress and cottonseed oil mill, an electric light plant, an ice factory and a waterworks were built. Mark Jones opened the town’s first bank in 1894. In 1912, Granger became the only town in Texas with a population of less than 5,000 that had paved streets. The Storrs Opera House, built by A.W. Storrs in 1905, hosted traveling shows and even featured the Chicago Opera Company.

Immigrants from Czechoslovakia and Moravia settled in the area and by the early 20th century, Czech culture had become strong and influential in the community. A Czech Protestant church was first organized in Granger in 1880. A Brethren congregation was established in 1892. A Brethren teacher-training summer school, called Hus Memorial School, was established in Granger in 1914. It was later moved to Temple. The Granger population peaked in the mid-1920s at more than 2,000 and subsequently declined during the general exodus from rural communities to cities.

In 1981, Granger Lake, formed by a dam on the San Gabriel River, was opened to the public. The population of Granger in 1990 was 1,190 but by 2000, it had rebounded to 1,331. However, in 2010, it jumped up again to 1,419.