Van Buren’s post office opened in 1831, and 18 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 56% of U.S. towns · #36 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it
Most of Van Buren was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1850.
Founding year: the first Van Buren post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Van Buren’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Van Buren is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #36 of 123 in Arkansas. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Van Buren’s overall grade.
Arkansas towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Arkansas town has 20.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Van Buren’s 7.6 sits near the middle of its state (40% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 18 listings outnumber those of 79% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share (±1.4 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Van Buren’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Van Buren, building by building, 1886–1922
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The area was settled by David Boyd and Thomas Martin in 1818. After Arkansas became a territory in 1819, Daniel and Thomas Phillips constructed a lumber yard in the community to serve as a fuel depot for traffic along the Arkansas River. In 1831, a post office was constructed for the community, at the time known as Phillips Landing. This post office was named after newly appointed Secretary of State and future President Martin Van Buren.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Van Buren post office opened in 1831, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Van Buren rank for history?
Van Buren is more historic than 56% of U.S. towns, #36 of 123 in Arkansas. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Van Buren?
18 listings: 12 buildings, among them the Drennen-Scott House (listed 1971, the first), 2 sites, 3 structures, and 1 object.
How old are the homes in Van Buren?
4% of Van Buren’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.4 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1990.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikidata (6), the National Register of Historic Places (18), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1880
1888
1888
1994