Van Buren, Missouri 4.94

Van Buren is a city that is the county seat of Carter County, Missouri, in the United States. It is the largest town in Carter County. Van Buren was founded in 1833 as the county seat of Ripley County and was named after then Vice President of the United States, Martin Van Buren. In 1859 Van Buren became a part of the newly created Carter County and was subsequently selected to be the county seat. The 2010 U.S. Census shows Van Buren with a population of 819, a decrease of 3.1 percent from its 2000 population of 845.HistoryIn 1833 a commission appointed for the purpose of choosing a site for the county seat of Ripley County selected a site one-half mile west and across Current River from the present location of Van Buren. They named the new county seat Van Buren after the then Vice President of the United States, Martin Van Buren. A court house was built and a small city grew up around it. The city had one small general merchandise store run by a man named Shaw and a water powered grist mill owned by John George.Van Buren remained the county seat of Ripley County until 1847 when the county seat was moved south to the town of Doniphan. After the removal of the county seat to Doniphan the town declined until only three or four families remained.On March 10, 1859 Van Buren became part of the newly created Carter County and a few days later on April 4, Van Buren was selected to be the county seat of Carter County.In 1867 the present site of Van Buren, located about a half-mile east and across the river from the original site, was purchased from Zimri A. Carter. Fifty acres of land was purchased from Zimri A. Carter for $475 and the deed given to Carter County commissioner James Snider. The first building to be built, even before the new city site was fully laid out, was a log court house located somewhat west of the current court house.