Van Buren ( ) is the second
largest city in the Fort Smith, Arkansas
-Oklahoma
Metropolitan
Statistical Area
and the county seat of
Crawford
County
, Arkansas
, United States
. The city is located directly northeast of
Fort
Smith at the Interstate
40 - Interstate
540 junction. The city was incorporated in 1842 and
according to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the
city was 21,249, ranking it as the state's 19th largest city,
behind Sherwood
.
History
Phillips Landing and earlier
The area was settled by David Boyd and Thomas Martin in the year
1818. After Arkansas became a territory in 1819 Daniel and Thomas
Phillips constructed a
lumber yard in
the community to serve as a fuel depot for river traffic. In the
year 1831 a
post office was constructed
for the community, at the time known as Phillips Landing. This post
office was named after the newly appointed
Secretary of State,
Martin Van Buren.
John Drennen along with his partner, David Thompson, purchased the
area for
US$11,000. They moved their business of
supplying firewood for steamboats to this new location on higher
ground. The courthouse was constructed on a lot of land donated by
Drennen on the condition that Van Buren become the county seat. The
Drennen Reserve is one of the town's existing historical sites from
the 1830s.
Incorporation
Van Buren was first incorporated
December
24,
1842.
Battle of Van Buren, 1862
On
December 7, 1862,
Union and Confederate forces clashed
along the Arkansas
River
in and around the town of Van Buren resulting in a
defeat for the Confederate
army driving them south across the river with minimal
casualties, however the Union forces captured 100 prisoners, as
stated in a battle report by Samuel
R. Curtis, Major General
of the Union forces.
1996 tornado
On
April 21,
1996 at
11:12 p.m., a category F3 tornado hit the Fort Smith/Van Buren area
causing extensive damage.
The
tornado, which spawned in Oklahoma and crossed
into west Fort Smith near the confluence of the Arkansas and Poteau
Rivers, killed 2, injured 89 and cost $300 million in
damage. The fatalities were small children from Ft. Smith.
At its worst, the tornado was one half of one mile across.
After
leaving the downtown area of Fort Smith, it traveled northwest
through industrial and residential sections of north Fort Smith,
then crossed the Arkansas
River again into the Mount Vista area on the west side of
Van Buren and damaged a highly residential area where no fatalities
occurred although this area was very populated at the time.
The total length it traveled on the ground was 7 miles. In total,
there were around 1,800 homes damaged the majority of which were in
Van Buren.
Geography
Physical geography
Van Buren is located at (35.444339, -94.346737) .
According to the
United
States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of
15.9 square miles (41.1 km²). 15.1 square miles
(39.0 km²) of it is land and 0.8 square miles
(2.1 km²) of it (5.05%) is water.
Along the
southern side, the Arkansas
River separates Van Buren from Fort Smith of Sebastian
County
. Lee
Creek runs along the western side of city where it eventually
flows into the Arkansas River.
Climate
Van Buren lies within a humid subtropical climate area. The city
also lies on the eastern edge of the region known as
Tornado Alley. Average temperatures range from
36
°F in January, to as high an average of
81°F in July. The average annual temperature is approximately 60°F.
Average
precipitation is
about 41 total inches, with only six inches being snow.
Backside of one of the Victorian style
buildings
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 18,986
people, 6,947 households, and 5,182 families residing in the city.
The
population density was
1,260.7 people per square mile (486.8/km²). There were 7,427
housing units at an average density of 493.2/sq mi
(190.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 87.37%
White, 1.64%
Black or
African American, 1.96%
Native American, 2.82%
Asian, 3.17% from
other races, and 3.03% from two
or more races. 6.04% of the population were
Hispanic or
Latino of any race.
There are 6,947 households, of which 40.4% have children under the
age of 18 living with them, 56.2% were
married
couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no
husband present, and 25.4% are classified as non-families by the
United States Census
Bureau.Of 6,947 households, 362 are unmarried partner
households: 304 heterosexual, 12 same-sex male, and 46 same-sex
female households. 21.7% of all households were made up of
individuals and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of
age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average
family size was 3.12.
In the city the population was spread out with 29.6% under the age
of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 30.7% from 25 to 44, 20.1% from 45 to
64, and 10.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was
33 years. For every 100 females there were 92.0 males. For every
100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.8 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $33,608, and the
median income for a family was $37,198. Males had a median income
of $28,798 versus $21,201 for females. The
per capita income for the city was
$14,948. About 13.5% of families and 16.7% of the population were
below the
poverty line, including 24.4%
of those under age 18 and 13.0% of those age 65 or over.
Culture
Arts and architecture
Van Buren is home of the
King Opera
House, a
Victorian-style
performance hall from the late 1800s, part of the old downtown
historic area. At the south end of the historical downtown is the
Crawford County courthouse, the oldest functioning courthouse west
of the
Mississippi River. To the
north is the Old Frisco Station which was originally a station on
the
St. Louis-San
Francisco Railway, pictured at the top of this page.
Part of historic downtown Van
Buren
Media
As part of
the primary Fort Smith metropolitan area, many Fort
Smith based television stations including KHBS
and KFSM
, whose radio
mast is built in Van Buren, provide local news and
weather.The city's major newspaper is the
Van Buren
Press Argus-Courier, however many people also read Fort
Smith's
Southwest Times Record, as well as the Northwest
Edition of the
Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette.
Transportation
Van
Buren's location at the junction of Interstate 40, Interstate 540 , and the Arkansas/Oklahoma border
yields surprisingly large tourism and hospitality
industries. The city is also located at the junction of
several state and
U.S.
highways including
Arkansas
Highway 59,
US 64, and
US
71. A private airport, Twin Cities Airport (code 39AR), was
operational to the southeast of the city, but has been closed for
many years. Modern railroads in the city include the
Arkansas and Missouri
Railroad and the
Union
Pacific Railroad.
Education
The Van Buren School District is the largest school district in
Crawford County, consisting of six
elementary schools (grades K-4), two
middle schools (grades 5-6), two
junior highs (grades 7-9) and one high school (grades 10-12). The
Van Buren High
School is in the 7A-Central Division of Arkansas high school
sports.
Sites of interest
Notable natives
References
External links
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