Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1818.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Benton Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Benton Township is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #208 of 768 in Illinois. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Benton Township’s overall grade.
Few Illinois towns list much on the Register (a typical Illinois town has 0.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Benton Township’s 1.2 sits near the middle of its state (63% of Illinois towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.7 points). Two sources give 1841.
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 →
What stands out about Benton Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
On April 19, 1928, Benton was the site of the next-to-last public hanging in Illinois, when local gangster Charles Birger was executed on the gallows next to the county jail for the December 12, 1926 murder of Joe Adams, mayor of nearby West City. A replica of the gallows and hangman's noose were built by the late retired Old Ben Coal miner, businessman & carpenter, Birchard L. Wampler (March 9, 1938 – June 29, 2010) and his son Birchard Neil Wampler. They remain standing today next to the old Franklin County Jail turned Museum.
Ewing Township lies west of Northern. It took its name from the postoffice, first established in Rawling’s Prairie in Benton Township, then later the office was moved to upper Ewing as it was called, as Richard Richerson had established woolen mills at this point. This was the original Ewing town.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Benton Township lies east of Browning and south of Ewing, taking its name from the county-seat that it within its limits. The township was not settled as rapidly as the sur¬ rounding townships. A. D. Dollins entered land in Benton Township in 1828, but William King was the first settler.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Benton Township, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Benton Township.
1941West Frankfort sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Benton Township.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewGeneral and Mrs. Logan's first cottage at Benton, Illinois and the house in which their daughter Mrs. Mary Logan Tucker…, 1885
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Benton Township’s page.
In 1841, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Benton Township’s post office opened in 1818, and the census of 1860 counted 380 people here.
How does Benton Township rank for history?
Benton Township is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #208 of 768 in Illinois. 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.
How old are the homes in Benton Township?
18% of Benton Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 11% for an Illinois town; the median home was built in 1963.
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 (6), Wikipedia, 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 old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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