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C−History
History · Van

Van’s post office opened in 1894

More historic than 22% of U.S. towns · #312 of 642 in Texas. What drives it

Most of Van was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Below: maps from 1959 on and the census since 1950.

1894first post office
0on the National Register
4%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Van began

When was Van founded?

1894

The Van post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 610 in 19502020 census: 2,664132 years

How historic is Van?

C−

More historic than 22% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Van’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Van is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #312 of 642 in Texas. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Van’s overall grade.
Founding era1894, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19404.1% of homes (±3.3) · typical TX town 1.6% · U.S. 8.4%CNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical TX town 0.0 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 22%
NewerOlder
Texas towns of 2,500+ (642)Ahead of 51%

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’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (34% of Texas towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.3 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’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 are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Van’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Van’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
The story

How Van came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Van.

Read it all →

Van's first settlers in the area had arrived by the time of the Civil War. By 1874, the town was named Swindler for George Swindler, who donated land for a school west of the present business district and land north of that site in 1891 to the Methodist Church. In 1894, schoolteacher Henry Vance, the town's namesake, established a post office, and the name Van was chosen when the post office renamed the community.

ChaptersMay 2015 tornado

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Van, 1894 to 1962

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1894Post officeThe Van post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1927Born hereAdrian Hall is born here
  5. 1959On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1962Born hereTodd Fowler is born here
By decade

Van, decade by decade

Today6 recent
Fence debris Van tornado2015Fence debris Van tornadoVan, TX, welcome sign IMG 66082012Van, TX, welcome sign IMG 6608Trees USA greenhouse, Van, TX IMG 65992012Trees USA greenhouse, Van, TX IMG 6599Texas Bank and Trust Co. in Van, TX IMG 66192012Texas Bank and Trust Co. in Van, TX IMG 6619First United Methodist Church, Van, TX IMG 66132012First United Methodist Church, Van, TX IMG 6613City Hall in Van, TX IMG 66222012City Hall in Van, TX IMG 6622
On the map

Van on the map, 1959 to 1981

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

Van on the 1959 USGS mapVan on the 1981 USGS map1959Van sheet · 1:24,000

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

People over time

Van, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,50019601980200020202,664

Grew from 610 people in 1950 to 2,664 in 2020, 4 times over.

8 censuses, 1950–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Van

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
T
Todd FowlerPlayer of American football · b. 1962
A
Adrian HallAmerican theatre director · b. 1927

Questions about Van’s history

What year was Van founded?

The Van post office opened in 1894, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Van rank for history?

Van is more historic than 22% of U.S. towns, #312 of 642 in Texas. 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.

How old are the homes in Van?

4% of Van’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 1.6% for a Texas town; the median home was built in 1981.

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), 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.