There were two original distinct communities from 1928 to the 1960s, La Cresta and Suncrest. The dividing line between the two was North Lane. Each had its own water district and clubhouse.

There were times of social strife prior to the 1950s between La Cresta and Suncrest.  The settlers who built year-round homes on the cabin lots were shunned by the well-to-do longtime summer residents who had the mountain to themselves during their season before the Sun’s give away.  Tensions were high and compare it to the storied feud of the Hatfields and McCoys.    They had their own Mason-Dixon line for years per George Behrens, the town’s first fire chief.  “The people on top of the hill, in what was called La Cresta looked down on those of us in Suncrest.  They wouldn’t talk to us.”   Billie Tate, the town’s librarian and full-time resident since 1966 who spent the summers of her youth in a Suncrest cabin, said with a laugh, “it was because the streets down there weren’t’ paved and silly things like that.” Each had its own community service club.  Infrequent attempts to join forces usually result in sharp acrid arguments and wider disagreement. 

It wasn’t until the 1950s when the elementary school was proposed, the volunteer fire station was built, and a water district established, that folks started thinking it was time to join forces to create a single community which was eventually named Crest.