About Van Alstyne, Texas

Van Alstyne is a little town, 45 miles north of Dallas. It’s home to just over 3000 people. It was once home to ].W. Throckmorton, who would become governor of Texas, and Collin McKinney, signer of Texas’ Declaration of Independence from Mexico in 1836, and their families.

The area’s early settlers, some from the Peter’s Colony, organized churches, schools, social organizations and businesses that would become the nucleus for the new town of Mantua. Founded in 1854, Mantua continued to grow and thrive until the railroad bypassed it in 1873.

Van Alstyne, Texas 1890

The Houston and Texas Central Railway purchased land three miles northeast, in Grayson County, from the orphaned great-grandson of Collin McKinney, for $20 per acre. The new depot town was named in honor of Maria Van Alstyne, widow of W. A. Van Alstyne of Houston, who had been a major stockholder in the railway.

Most of the population of Mantua moved to Van Alstyne and in just a few years, it became a vital city springing from the prairie. Van Alstyne boasted doctors, drug stores, grocery and dry goods stores, hardware and furniture stores, livery stables, hotels, two newspapers and two banks.

In 1890, Columbia College was established and instructed as many as 578 pupils in the subjects of mythology, languages and elocution. Local grocer, C. E. Carter, built an ornately decorated opera house that offered community entertainment such as Chautauquas and stereopticon exhibitions.

With Van Alstyne’s location on the railroad, the city supported vast and prosperous agricultural enterprises. Several gins operated in Van Alstyne and by 1901 when the Van Alstyne Cotton Oil Company was opened, cotton was “King”.