Historically, prior to the formation of nearby town of Van (six miles west of Garden Valley) in the late 1920s, when oil was discovered there, Garden Valley was a town with a post office, stage coach station, and hotel.[3] Today, only one stop sign is in the community's center, with no businesses or public buildings. The city had a population of 150 people in 2000.
The area surrounding Garden Valley hosts the headquarters of several Christian ministries (the mailing addresses for the organizations are shown as nearby Lindale):
It was also the home of Last Days Ministries, the ministry of the late Christian singer Keith Green; Green (along with two of his small children, who died in a plane crash) is interred in the Garden Valley Cemetery behind the local Baptist church.
