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VAN ALSTYNE,
TEXAS
Grayson County,
North Central Texas
Highways 5 and 75, and FM 121
12 miles S of Sherman
Population:
2,502
(2000)
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| Photo courtesy
Barclay Gibson, February 2007 |
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History in
a Pecan Shell
The present
town of Van Alstyne was formed by residents of a town named Mantua
when their community was bypassed by the Houston and Texas Central
Railway railroad in 1872. The new town was either named after a
railroad stockholder (Marie Van Alstyne) or William A. Van Alstyne,
the railroad's surveyor.
A post office was opened in 1873 and the town's population was 400
in 1890. Ten years later the population was nearing 2,000. It's
population declined slightly during the first years of the 20th
Century but remained strong with all essential business intact.
By the mid 1930s it was back up to 1,453 and rose slightly to 1,650
in the late 1940s.
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| Another Van
Alstyne downtown scene |
| First United
Methodist Church |
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Photos
courtesy Barclay Gibson, February 2007 |
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