Van, TX
| Van, Texas | |
|---|---|
| City | |
Welcome Sign (2012)
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 Location within Van Zandt County and Texas |
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| Coordinates: 32°31′34″N 95°38′11″W / 32.52611°N 95.63639°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Van Zandt |
| Area | |
| • Total | 3.0 sq mi (7.7 km2) |
| • Land | 3.0 sq mi (7.7 km2) |
| • Water | 0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2) |
| Elevation | 489 ft (149 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 2,632 |
| • Density | 880/sq mi (340/km2) |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP code | 75790 |
| Area code(s) | 903, and 430 |
| FIPS code | 48-74912 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1376568 |
Van is a city located in southeastern Van Zandt County, Texas, United States, approximately 75 miles east of Dallas, Texas and 26 miles northwest of Tyler, Texas. The population was 2,632 at the 2010 census. The town draws its name from an early settler and school teacher Henry Vance.
Van's first settlers in the area had arrived by the time of the Civil War. By 1874, the town was named Swindall for George Swindall, 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. A Pure Oil company survey near the town in 1927 led to the discovery of oil at the property on October 13, 1929. Consequently, Van experienced an overnight boom, growing from a rural farming community with a school, and post office to an oil boomtown where thirty buildings, including hotels and stores, had been constructed in only ten days. That November Sun Oil, Shell Petroleum, the Texas Company, Pure Oil, and Humble became co-owners of the field, with Pure Oil as chief operator, and in 1930 the Texas Short Line Railway was extended from Grand Saline. The population numbered 894 throughout the 1930s. The population declined to 620 during World War II, as workers moved away to jobs in war-related industry, but increased steadily thereafter. Businesses in the community fluctuated from a high of fifty in 1934 to a low of fifteen in 1945, but remained between thirty and forty throughout most of the town's history. Mechanization of the oilfield occurred in the 1940s, and by the 1950s Van had a Humble Oil refinery, five churches, and a consolidated independent school district. A total of 591 wells made up the Van field when Pure Oil became a division of Union Oil in 1965. The population of Van grew from 1,103 in 1962 to 1,820 by 1974. The population reached just over 2,600 residents in 2013.
Van is located at 32°31′34″N 95°38′11″W / 32.526029°N 95.636493°W (32.526029, -95.636493). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.0 square miles (7.7 km2), all of it land.
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