Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns · #32 of 123 in Arkansas. What drives it
Most of Benton was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1995. 16 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 33 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1915 on, and the census since 1880.
Benton dates its founding to 1833 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Benton is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #32 of 123 in Arkansas. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
Arkansas towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Arkansas town has 20.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Benton’s 16.7 sits near the middle of its state (51% of Arkansas towns have fewer) while its 61 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltOld River Bridge is builtBuiltGann Building is built
In the archiveBush's drug store
Born hereArthur Tuck is born here
In the archiveBenton, Ark. Miss Elsie Paisley, Red Cross nurse at Saline Chapter Saline County
BuiltDr. T.E. Buffington House is built
In the archive"Share cropper" near Benton, Arkansas
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereCliff Lee is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Benton.
Early industry in Benton included a salt works opened in 1827, pottery making from local deposits of kaolin beginning around 1900, and logging and furniture making from surrounding timber. It had a racetrack preceding Oaklawn as early as 1838.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Benton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Benton.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1915Sheet 1 of 13Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Benton’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 452 people in 1880 to 35,014 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Benton’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Benton’s post office has been open since 1836.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Benton’s history is told.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1833, according to Wikidata. Benton’s post office opened in 1836, and the census of 1880 counted 452 people here.
Benton is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #32 of 123 in Arkansas. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
16 listings: 13 buildings, among them the Shoppach House (listed 1975, the first), 2 historic districts, the Gan Row Historic District and the Benton Commercial Historic District, with 33 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 61 historic buildings in all.
3% of Benton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.2 points), against a typical 3.1% for an Arkansas town; the median home was built in 1995.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (8), Wikidata (7), the National Register of Historic Places (16), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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