Van Alstyne is located in
Grayson County north of
Dallas toward
Sherman along US 75.
The first settlers moved in in the 1840s. The town was laid out by Scott McKinney in 1853.
By the mid-1970s the town had 2,230 residents and some forty businesses, among them seven manufacturers, including producers of clothing, motor homes, and mattresses. By the late 1980s the population of Van Alstyne stood at 1,990, and it had some thirty-five businesses, including factories of plastics and aluminum products. In 1990 the population of the community was reported as 2,090.