Van Buren, Mississippi

Van Buren
Ghost town
Van Buren
Coordinates: 34°11′30″N 88°24′41″W / 34.19167°N 88.41139°W / 34.19167; -88.41139Coordinates: 34°11′30″N 88°24′41″W / 34.19167°N 88.41139°W / 34.19167; -88.41139
Country United States
State Mississippi
County Itawamba
Elevation 262 ft (80 m)
Time zone Central (CST) (UTC-6)
  Summer (DST) CDT (UTC-5)
GNIS feature ID 679181[1]

Van Buren is an ghost town located in Itawamba County, Mississippi.

Once a busy port on the Tombigbee River, Van Buren is today a rural farm community.

History

Van 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]

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

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Van Buren
  2. 1 2 3 Rowland, Dunbar (1907). Mississippi: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form 2. Southern Historical Publishing Association. p. 847.
  3. Franks, Bob. "Van Buren Photos". MSGenWeb. Retrieved April 2014.
  4. 1 2 "A Concise History of Early Itawamba County". Itawamba Historical Society. Retrieved April 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 Mills, Mona Robinson (2013). Itawamba County. Arcadia. p. 8.


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