Formed November 11, 1833 (29th county)
Van Buren County (15,797), Clinton (2,505)
The stone courthouse was built in 1934 on a square at Griggs, Elm, Court, and Main streets. United States Highway 65 passes two blocks east of the site. The building was remodeled in 1973. The designers were Frank Erhart and Howard Eichenbaum for this Classical Revival courthouse. Bloomington was the first county seat (1833) followed by Clinton (1844). The county’s name comes from President Martin Van Buren, the same source of the name of the seat of Crawford County. Presidential candidate De Witt Clinton is the source of the county seat’s name. He is also the namesake for one of the county seats of Arkansas County. On November 11, 1833, Conway, Izard, and Independence counties yielded land to form Van Buren County as the 29th county.
Van Buren County government consists of a sheriff, assessor, treasurer, and coroner (executive). It has 9 Quorum Court members (legislative.) Five Circuit Court Judges serve Van Buren, Faulkner, and Searcy counties and a District Court Judge, an Attorney, and a County Clerk serve Van Buren County (judicial.) The county is in the north central part of state north and west of Little Rock, Arkansas. The center of the county is 6.3 miles Northwest of Clinton nearer Crabtree. The county is surrounded clockwise by Searcy, Stone, Cleburne, Faulkner, Conway, and Pope counties. This rectangular county has three extensions. A chimney comes out of the north, a foot extends down on the southeast, and an extension going west from the southwest. Clinton is located slightly east of the county’s center. Clinton is the county seat and the largest city. It is 15.9% of the county population.
The area of the county is 724.3 square miles. It is 30 of 75 in size. It ranks 50 out of 75 in population in the state. It has a density of 21.8 persons per square mile making it 48 out of 75 in the state. Van Buren County has 33.5% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 65 crosses from the north to the south, Searcy County to Faulkner County.
Clinton
Shirley
Damascus
Fairfield Bay
