Van, Texas

The settlement was called Ratty Towns or Who'd-a-Thought-It by 1874, according to the Handbook of Texas. It became Swindall after George Swindall donated land for a school in 1891. The present name came in 1894, when Henry Vance opened a post office. The name nods to both Vance and a resident named Vannie Tunnell.

A Pure Oil Company survey in 1927 pointed to oil near town, and the discovery well came in on October 13, 1929 (Handbook of Texas). The Handbook says thirty new buildings, including hotels and stores, went up within ten days. By November 1929, Sun Oil, Shell Petroleum, the Texas Company, Pure Oil and Humble were co-owners of the field. The Texas Short Line Railway extended its line from Grand Saline in 1930.

The field's operators ran it as a single unit rather than racing each other to drain it. That made it the first completely unitized field in Texas and the mid-continent, with 5,800 acres and five operators. Production peaked at 17.2 million barrels in 1932, and the field had produced about 502 million barrels by January 1, 1994 (Handbook of Texas).

A Texas Historical Commission marker at County Road 1501 and State Highway 16 tells the story of the Pure Oil Company Camp. It was a 107-acre headquarters with an office, seventeen houses, a geological laboratory and a swimming pool. The residential buildings closed after Pure Oil merged with Union Oil in 1965. In town, the Van Area Oil and Historical Museum preserves the oil-boom story, as the city's website notes.

The City of Van runs three parks:

• Van City Park (301 Wyoming St.) has a covered pavilion, a splash pad, a playground and a skate park.
• McMillan Park (712 E. Main St.) covers 39 acres. It has a lake with a kayak launch, a walking trail around the lake and a 9-hole disc golf course. The course opened in 2021, and two tee pads per hole let you play 18.
• The Sports Complex (310 Chestnut St.) has baseball and soccer fields, a walking trail and a concession stand.

The Van Oil Festival is held at Van City Park on the third Saturday of October, according to the city. The city's parade kicks off the Van Chamber's festival. The city lists the 2026 parade for Saturday, October 17, at 10 a.m. It starts at the Van ISD Administration Building and ends at Connections Church.

Freedom Boom, the city's free Independence Day celebration, is held at McMillan Park on the last Saturday in June. It ends with fireworks over the lake. The city also hosts Downtown Trick-or-Treating, which it lists for Saturday, October 31, 2026, and a first Community Fishing Day at McMillan Park on October 24, 2026.

On the evening of May 10, 2015, a tornado rated at least EF-3 hit Van. The National Weather Service estimated its winds at 135 to 140 mph. KLTV reported that two people died, at least 43 were taken to hospitals, and about a third of the town was damaged, including J.E. Rhodes and Van Intermediate schools.

Van ISD has about 2,270 students on four campuses: Rhodes Elementary, Van Middle, Van Junior High and Van High School. Those figures come from the Texas Tribune's schools explorer, which draws on state data. The district's teams are the Vandals.

For a bigger outing, Canton's First Monday Trade Days is about 20 minutes west. It runs Thursday through Sunday before the first Monday of every month.