In the 1880s, the area now known as Van contained a scattered collection of farm houses and a general store, with no nearby school for community children to attend regularly. Around 1880, local farmer George W. Swindall donated one acre for a community school, and three of his children later attended it. The community and the school came to be known as Swindall. T.W. Staton was the first teacher, and the school employed only one teacher at a time through the 1905-1906 school year. In fall 1906, husband and wife John N. and Lucy Rhodes were hired, making two teachers, and a third teacher was added in 1911. The Van school district was officially established by the county commissioners court in 1903, containing twelve and one-fifth square miles and two schools, Swindall and Spring Hill. Although a post office was established in 1894 under the name Van, the school continued to be called Swindall throughout its years of service. By 1915, the school was well into its third decade of use, in need of repair, and too small for its enrollment. A bond passed in 1916 funded a larger school about halfway between Swindall and Spring Hill Schools, and both closed at the end of the 1915-1916 school year. The new school opened in fall 1916 as Van Common School.