Welcome to Van Houten ...
So far, we found very little information about Van Houten. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>
We've added Van Houten to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Van Houten, please Contact Us.
Van Houten would have been located within present day Colfax County<2>.
The location of Van Houten has been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (ie- the GNIS).<3>
While we don't have a date for the founding of Van Houten, you might consider that their post office opened in 1902.
While the community is gone, the present day location for Van Houten is 6,740 feet [2,054 m] above sea level.<4> In other words, the elevation of Van Houten is about 1¼ mile [or ~2 km] above sea level.
Time Zone: The area where Van Houten was located is in the Mountain Time Zone (MST/MDT) and observes daylight saving time
Van Houten would have been located in the (575) area code.
Communities near Van Houten ...
We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Van Houten.
- Raton
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raton
- Raton is located in Colfax County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 5,923 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Raton <5>
- Maxwell
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maxwell have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maxwell
- Maxwell is located in Colfax County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 213 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Maxwell <5>
- Brilliant ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brilliant
- Brilliant is located in Colfax County
- Dawson ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dawson
- Dawson is located in Colfax County
- Lauretta ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest) - Starkville
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Starkville
- Starkville is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Starkville <5>
- Madrid ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Madrid
- Madrid is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- San Miguel ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for San Miguel have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for San Miguel
- San Miguel is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Sopris ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the north) - Cokedale
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cokedale
- Cokedale is located in Las Animas County (CO)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 121 people
To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.
We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Van Houten. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Van Houten.
Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Van Houten. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Van Houten.
We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Van Houten. See our Newspapers Page for Van Houten.
Adding Van Houten to Our Gazetteer ...
We originally found mention of Van Houten in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.
From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Van Houten was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<7>
From that list, the Van Houten post office opened in 1902.
We also found Van Houten on a map titled Rand McNally Map of New Mexico (1951).
For more details, see References and Mentions for Van Houten.
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of New Mexico: www.newmexico.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Van Houten, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <2> | If you're interested in how the shape of New Mexico's counties, including Colfax, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. |
| <3> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | The elevation is an estimate for the area around Van Houten - it will be higher in some places and lower in others. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <7> | A copy of their list with background information can be found at: https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/ |