THE HISTORY OF VAN ALSTYNE
Written by Julie S. Morris

Van Alsytyne officially became a Texas City when the first train arrived on March 10, 1873. The Houston and Texas Central Railway, in its advance from Houston to Denison, founded new settlements along the way. Greeting the first passengers in this area was a nearby community ready to forsake their established town and follow the railroad. Several influential families had settled in the area by the 1840s. Collin McKinney, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico, established his family's homesteads three miles south. The McKinney clan and other colonists organized churches, schools, social organizations and businesses that would become the nucleus for the town of Mantua. Founded in 1854, Mantua continued to thrive until the railroad bypassed it in 1873. Most of the population moved to the new Van Alstyne and Mantua was virtually abandoned.

The Houston and Texas Central Railway purchased 35 1/2 acres out of an inherited plat of land belonging to the orphaned great-grandson of Collin McKinney. The price for the new town was $20 coin an acre. The city was named in honor of Maria Van Alstyne, widow of W. A. Van Alstyne of Houston, who had been a key stockholder in the railway. Within a few years substantial brick edifices replaced the original wooden buildings. Van Alstyne boasted churches, two newspapers, two banks, doctors, drug, grocery and dry goods stores, hardware and furniture concerns, hotels and livery stables. Columbia College, established in 1890, instructed as many as 578 pupils in the subjects of mythology, languages and elocution. Local grocer, C. E. Carter, built an ornate opera house that offered entertainment such as Chautauquas and stereopticon exhibitions.

With its location on the railroad, Van Alstyne was the center of vast and prosperous agricultural enterprises. Several gins and mills operated in the area and by 1901 when the Van Alstyne Cotton Oil Company was opened, cotton was "King." Making travel easier, interurban service provided by the Texas Traction Company's electric railway began in 1908. The successful service to the community lasted forty years until the last car stopped at the Van Alstyne station in 1948. The popular tradition of Saturday nights in Van Alstyne brought hundreds of folks to town. They would travel from all around to walk around the square to shop, eat and get a hair cut or just visit. By the time the midnight show at the Aztec Theater ended, it was time to say farewell and look forward to doing it all again the next Saturday night. On Sunday afternoons, there was not a better place to be a baseball fan than in Van Alstyne. The Grays were many time league champion and an appreciative town built a 600-seat ballpark for their team in 1936. Several of the Grays went on to the major leagues including the famous Chicago White Sox player, Monty Stratton.

Van Alstyne today recognizes its impressive and celebrated past. The Van Alstyne Historical Museum houses artifacts from 160 years of local history. Van Alstyne first participated in the Main Street Program of the Texas Historical Commission in 1991. Fifteen Texas Historical Markers note its colorful past. Many of the local entities can trace their history to the early days of Mantua. The city of Van Alstyne was born of the railroad but survived through the tenacity and progressive spirit of its early pioneers. That same spirit, whether in newcomer or hometown folk, still prevails today.

For more information on this subject, the book, On the Banks of the Sister Grove, A History of Van Alstyne, Texas, written by Julie S. Morris and published by the Van Alstyne Historical Society is available at the Van Alstyne Historical Museum.