Van Buren is a city that is the county seat of Carter County, Missouri, in the United States. It is the largest town in Carter County. Van Buren was founded in 1833 as the county seat of Ripley County and was named after then Vice President of the United States, Martin Van Buren. In 1859 Van Buren became a part of the newly created Carter County and was subsequently selected to be the county seat. The 2010 U.S. Census shows Van Buren with a population of 819, a decrease of 3.1 percent from its 2000 population of 845.