This post office was named after newly appointed Secretary of State and future President Martin Van Buren.

The courthouse was constructed on a lot of land donated by Drennen on the condition that Van Buren become the county seat.

Federal forces captured 100 prisoners, as stated in an official report by Major General Samuel R.

[14] Significant rainfall in the South-central United States forced U.S. Army Corps of Engineers workers to release large amounts of water to ease flooding upstream.

The river approached 41 feet (12 m) at the Van Buren gauge over the course of several days, and the flooding damaged 25 homes in the Crawford County area.

[15] On April 21, 1996, at 11:12 p.m., an F3 tornado hit the Fort Smith/Van Buren area causing extensive damage.

The tornado, which spawned in Oklahoma and crossed into west Fort Smith near the confluence of the Arkansas and Poteau rivers, killed two, injured 89 and caused $300 million in damage.

[16] Van Buren is located in the southwest corner of Crawford County with the Arkansas–Oklahoma state line just 2 miles (3 km) to the west.

The Arkansas River forms the southern boundary of the city, separating it from Fort Smith of Sebastian County.

Van Buren is home to many large corporations within the state and employs a great deal of the city's population within its Port and Industrial Park district.

Manufacturing, food processing, and medicine are sustaining industries in Van Buren.

Major employers include poultry processor Simmons Foods, the Van Buren School District, USA Truck, and Baptist Health.

Van Buren is home of the King Opera House, a Victorian-style performance hall from the late 19th century, part of the old downtown historic area.

As part of the primary Fort Smith metropolitan area, many Fort Smith based television stations including KHBS and KFSM, whose radio mast is built in Van Buren, provide local news and weather.

The city's major newspaper is the Van Buren Press Argus-Courier; however many people also read Fort Smith's Southwest Times Record, as well as the Northwest Edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.