Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Van Horn

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
C+History
History · Van Horn

Van Horn’s post office opened in 1886, and 2 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 44% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Most of Van Horn was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1972. Its Register listings are the First Presbyterian Church and the Clark Hotel. Below: maps from 1906 on and the census since 1890.

1886first post office
2on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Van Horn began

When was Van Horn founded?

1886

The Van Horn post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 450 in 18902020 census: 1,941140 years

How historic is Van Horn?

C+

More historic than 44% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Van Horn post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Van Horn’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Van Horn is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Van Horn’s overall grade.
Founding era1886, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19404.2% of homes (±5.4) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%CNational Register2 listings, 10.5 per 10,000 residents · typical TX town 0.0 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 44%
NewerOlder

Few Texas towns list much on the Register (a typical Texas town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Van Horn’s 10.5 sits above most of its state (87% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 is a Census survey estimate (±5.4 points). 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 Horn’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Van Horn are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1890 and 1900, then grew more than tenfold.On the map since 19064 editions of the USGS map, 1906 to 1985. Watch Van Horn change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Van Horn’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Van Horn’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Van Horn, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0001900192019401960198020002020450 in 1890Low: 30

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1890 and 1900, then grew more than tenfold.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Van Horn’s Wikipedia page.

On the map

Van Horn on the map, 1906 to 1985

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Van Horn. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Van Horn on the 1906 USGS mapVan Horn on the 1964 USGS mapVan Horn on the 1979 USGS mapVan Horn on the 1985 USGS map1906Van Horn sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Van Horn.

The story

How Van Horn came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Van Horn.

Read it all →

Anglo-Texan settlement began in the late 1850s and early 1860s supportive of the San Antonio-El Paso Overland Mail route. Although U.S. Army Major Jefferson Van Horne is believed to have passed near the area in 1849 on his way to take command of what would later become Fort Bliss, the town is instead named for Lieutenant James Judson Van Horn, who commanded an army garrison at the Van Horn Wells beginning in 1859. Lieutenant Van Horn's command was relatively short-lived, as the post was seized by Confederate forces in 1861 and Lieutenant Van Horn was taken prisoner. Settlement was further stimulated by the construction of the Texas and Pacific Railway in 1881. The town has several buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, including the First Presbyterian Church (now Primera Iglesia Bautista), built in 1901.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Van Horn, 1886 to 1990

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1886Post officeThe Van Horn post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1906On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1924Born hereWally Scott is born here
  6. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 2,930
By decade

Van Horn, decade by decade

Today6 recent
VanHornTX 20082008VanHornTX 2008Van Horn Eagle Field 20082008Van Horn Eagle Field 2008Truck Stop sign2008Truck Stop signThreemile Mt 20082008Threemile Mt 2008Van horn TX2007Van horn TXVan horn texas2006Van horn texas
On the National Register

2 historic places in Van Horn

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
First Presbyterian Church
First Presbyterian ChurchClark Hotel
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Carpenter Gothic1
First Presbyterian ChurchCarpenter Gothic
Clark HotelBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Questions about Van Horn’s history

What year was Van Horn founded?

The Van Horn post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Van Horn rank for history?

Van Horn is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns. 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 Horn?

Two places: the First Presbyterian Church (listed 1978) and the Clark Hotel (1979).

How old are the homes in Van Horn?

4% of Van Horn’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1972.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.