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History · Benedict

Benedict’s post office opened in 1886, and 48% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1938 on and the census since 1910.

1886first post office
0on the National Register
48%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Benedict began, and where its name came from

When was Benedict founded?

1886

The Benedict post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 215 in 19102020 census: 69140 years

How did Benedict get its name?

Benedict was named for S. S. Benedict.

Founding year: the first Benedict post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Benedict’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Benedict are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1920 and 1990, then grew 4-fold.Old housesHalf of Benedict’s homes were built before 1941.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Benedict’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Benedict’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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People over time

Benedict, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020275 in 1920Low: 16

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1920 and 1990, then grew 4-fold.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Benedict’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Benedict came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Benedict.

Read it all →

Benedict had its start in the year 1866 by the building of the railroad through that territory. Benedict was laid out at the junction of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and the Missouri Pacific Railroad. It was named for S. S. Benedict.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Benedict, 1886 to 1938

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1886Post officeThe Benedict post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 275
  5. 1938On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Benedict, decade by decade

Today1 recent
KSMap-doton-Benedict2005KSMap-doton-Benedict
On the map

Benedict on the map, 1938 to 1943

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Benedict. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Benedict on the 1938 USGS mapBenedict on the 1943 USGS map1938Altoona 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 Benedict.

Questions about Benedict’s history

What year was Benedict founded?

The Benedict post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.