Van Buren is a ghost town located in Itawamba County, Mississippi.
Van Buren, Mississippi | |
|---|---|
  Van Buren  Van Buren | |
| Coordinates: 34°11′30″N 88°24′41″W / 34.19167°N 88.41139°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Mississippi |
| County | Itawamba |
| Elevation | 262 ft (80 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| GNIS feature ID | 679181[1] |
Once a busy port on the Tombigbee River, Van Buren is today a rural farm community.
History
editVan Buren was located on a high bluff on the river's west bank.[2] It was named for Martin Van Buren. North of Van Buren was Frog Level Swamp.[3]
Before Fulton was made the county seat in 1837, private homes and stores were used to conduct government business, including the store house of Elisha Thomas at Van Buren.[4][5]
Winfield Walker, a nephew of Winfield Scott, settled in Van Buren in 1838, and became a merchant.[2]
By 1840, Van Buren was the largest town in Itawamba County, and had a busy river port.[5] The populations of both Fulton and Van Buren grew with settlers through the 1840s, and both had blacksmith shops, doctor's offices, stores, and lawyer's offices.[4] A post office operated under the name Van Buren from 1839 to 1867.[6]
The completion of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad west of Van Buren in the late 1850s caused river traffic to diminish;[5] the railway "ruined it and the old site is now under cultivation".[2]
References
edit- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Van Buren
- ^ a b c Rowland, Dunbar (1907). Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form. Vol. 2. Southern Historical Publishing Association. p. 847.
- ^ Franks, Bob. "Van Buren Photos". MSGenWeb. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
- ^ a b "A Concise History of Early Itawamba County". Itawamba Historical Society. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
- ^ a b c Mills, Mona Robinson (2013). Itawamba County. Arcadia. p. 8. ISBN 9780738590684.
- ^ "Itawamba County". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
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