Van Buren, Mississippi

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

Van Buren, Mississippi
Ghost town
Van Buren Van Buren
Coordinates: 34°11′30″N 88°24′41″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

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. 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. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
4. "A Concise History of Early Itawamba County". Itawamba Historical Society. Retrieved April 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
5. Mills, Mona Robinson (2013). Itawamba County. Arcadia. p. 8. ISBN 9780738590684.